<p>Here is my question. I am a 18 year old -- my parents claim me on their tax form as a dependent. For 2009, I received a 1098-T from my school which shows qualified tuition expenses of 6000 (not incl. books, supplies and equipment) and grants/scholarships of $ 10,000. So, after including books, supplies and equipment, the taxable portion of grants/scholarships comes to $ 2000 or so. So my first question is: must my parents report this 2000 dollars as taxable income on their income on line 7? Or, because I do not have any earned income in 2009, I can choose not to file a tax return and my parents also need not report this taxable scholarship? </p>
<p>As a second question, can my parents claim the American Opportunity $ 2500 tax credit for their contributions to my schooling on their tax returns. They have supported me gallantly and generously despite their own hardships. I also took out a loan (Stafford). Can they claim the tax credit without reporting the taxable portion of the scholarship? Or can they claim the tax credit at the same time as reporting the taxable portion of scholarship ($ 2000 in above para)?</p>
<p>Thank you in advance for your help. I should add that no portion of my grant/scholarship came from an employer of my parents.</p>
<p>As I understand it, your parents can claim the American Opportunity credit for eligible expenses they (or you) paid, and if they are claiming you as a dependent on their taxes they are the only ones who can claim it.</p>
<p>Your scholarship funds that were above the elgible expenses are considered as income to you. In our case, we add that sum to my son’s earned income and he has taxes due for total. If you don’t have any earned income, and if the taxable portion of your scholarship does not put you above the level where you’d have to file at all… then I guess you don’t have to file… ? I guess that’s how I’d see it.</p>
<p>Hopefully one of the tax savvy folks here --swimcatsmom?-- will weigh in on that.</p>
<p>It depends on the terms of the scholarships. If they can only be used for tuition and fees, then none of it is available for a credit and $2,000 would be taxable to you, but if that’s the only income you have then you don’t need to file.</p>
<p>If the scholarships can be used for room and board that can’t be used for the AOC, then you would need to claim $$6,000 of income on your return ($2,000 that is the amount over the qualified tuition, and $4,000 that was used on room and board.) You need to claim that much because the maximum needed for the whole AOC credit is $4,000. The credit is 100% of the first $2,000 and 25% of the next $2,000.</p>
<p>Then you need to file a return and deduct your standard deduction from the $6,000. The standard deduction is $5,700. That leaves $300 of taxable income and the tax on that would be about $30. But then your parents, assuming they fall within the income levels, can get the entire $2,500 credit.</p>
<p>^Great answer 3bm. I was in a similar situation. I applied enough of the taxable scholarship to my daughters tax return in order to get the credit on my return (as described above). In my case my daughters income (work and taxable scholarship) was below 5,700 and therefore was not required to file a tax return. However we chose to file her return so it would be clear how the scholarship monies were allocated in case there was ever a question in the future. Additionally I found the school did not include deductible fees in the amount of qualified expenses on the 1098-T so check that too.</p>
<p>I was told that the school does not issue a 1098 if the scholarships total more than the qualified deduction and with no 1098, no tax credit. That seems to preclude the student filing so the parent can get the credit.</p>
<p>So the schools decide who gets one and who doesn’t? I thought it would be consistent. My accountant and I went back and forth yesterday as to whether there was a way to take advantage of the credit. For financial aid, the tuition reduction is nice as it comes directly off the AGI. There is no way to swing that, however, with scholarships more than qualified expenses. There is not much wiggle room in qualified expenses. Somehow, I think that a lot of people either push the envelope on this or have no idea that a credit is even available.</p>
<p>I thought schools were required to provide a 1098T.</p>
<p>This is an interesting (though very long) CPA Journal article about 1098Ts and their inconsistencies and also about taxability of scholarships and claiming credits. The part I found particularly interesting when I was trying to figure out what was allowable was this.</p>
<p>I thought they were required to issue one too and I assumed it had been sent to my D and she had it. When I called to tell them it had not been received, I was told that they don’t issue to students whose aid is more than tuition. She added that, in that case, the tax credit was available. She did say that we were free to itemize to see if I was eligible for the tuition reduction, but the limits on qualified expenses is just as narrow there too so still a no go.</p>
<p>Edited to add - the school isn’t giving you any wiggle room if you don’t get the 1098. Isn’t that needed to do all this or wouldn’t it be a red flag if you don’t have it. I guess the flip side is that if I don’t get a 1098, the IRS doesn’t get one so there is no record of the scholarship amount. They depend on your honesty to report it as income.</p>
<p>None of my scholarship/grants are specifically restricted to cover tuition and related expenses. So if I understand 3bm103’s main point: I can have my parents claim the AOP Credit for upto the first $ 4000 of qualified tuition expenses – thereby maximiizing the tax credit on their returns. </p>
<p>Next I take the total scholarships I got and deduct another 4000 dollars (balance of qualified) tution, books, equipment and report the difference as my taxable income on my tax return. Is this right?</p>
<p>And if I do this on my return, because it is less than my standard deduction, I pay no tax?</p>
<p>Thank you for confirming or correcting this.</p>
<p>So are we saying that, if the scholarships and grants are not designated for tuition, and even if they are more than qualified expenses, I can say she spent them on other things and still claim the credit? If she gets $8000 in scholarship and tuition is $3500, then I can’t say that she spent the $8000 on everything but tuition and claim that I actually paid the $3500 and claim it as a tax credit, can I? That can’t be right.</p>
<p>Ynot: Basically, yes. As long as your scholarship says you can spend it on anything you want, you take $4,000 of it and put it as earned income on your return. Thereby letting your parents take that same money and use it for tuition credits on their return. You also have to take the amount that was already taxable because the scholarship exceeded qualified tuition and tax that. That may or may not exceed your standard deduction, depending on what it comes to. Your standard deduction (if you have no unearned income) is $5,700.</p>
<p>Cartera: Assuming that the $8,000 was given as a scholarship and NOT designated for tuition, then yes. But not many scholarships work that way. Keep in mind that with $8K of income, the student will have a tax liability. That also assumes that the parents otherwise qualify for the American Opportunity Credit.</p>