@cptofthehouse
Sorry for all this commotion.
I went back to the account activity.
The tuition and fees for Spring 2015 were charged on November 13, 2014. On that same day, a scholarship of $1250 is listed. Then, the rest of the scholarships ($8115) are listed on the date of January 12, 2015.
Ok, it’s coming together a little bit.
I would not consider the scholarship amounts on the account in an anticpated status as having been credited in 2014. But the one for $1250 would be and that amount makes sense. The $9865 in scholarships you said were for fall plus the $1250 equals the $11,115 that is in box 5 of the 1098T. So the school isn’t including the anticipated scholarships for 2014 either. So you have $11,115 in scholarships for 2014. That we know. And yes, all the scholarships actually credited in January 2015 may be potentially taxable for 2015, not 2014. So keep a record and make some notes of those amounts for a year from now so you won’t have to research this part of it again for 2015 taxes.
The difficult part is how much in qualified expenses were paid in 2014 to use to offset the $11,115. By paid, I mean including paid by the scholarships that were credited to your account.
Your post #15 says $4409 tuition and fees for fall plus the $609.29 for books is $5018.29 so far. Since the $1250 in scholarships “paid” some expenses by being credited to your account in November 2014, $1250 of expenses should be able to be added to the $5018.29 giving $6268.29 of expenses for 2014. Using only the $1250 of the spring expenses, you have $11,115 - 6268.29 = 4846.70 of potentially taxable scholarship/grants for 2014 IMO.
Now I’m not a tax professional but this is what I would do if it were my son or daughter.
Given your tax filing status you have the choice of filing a federal return or not.
Just keep good notes on this and that you used $1250 of spring expenses for 2014, so you don’t use them again for 2015 taxes.
As for your questions concerning how to answer questions on the fafsa, if you don’t file a return, you would put 0 for your AGI and put 0 for the amount of taxable scholarships reported to the IRS in your AGI. Financial aid is exempted from being reported as other untaxed income and since you say you don’t have any other income whatsoever, there is nothing to report in the untaxed income question.
State taxes were mentioned above. Here’s the thing about that. For federal taxes, taxable scholarships and grants are considered earned income for the purposes of filing requirements and the standard deduction. That’s why you get your $6200 standard deduction for federal. My state, and I’ve read other states, consider taxable scholarships/grants as unearned income. Therefore, your state standard deduction may be reduced and you may have to file a state return and pay some state tax. You need to look into that for your state.
@annoyingdad
Thank you so much for your input and explanations! FAFSA and taxes don’t seem to be as frustrating anymore. I will have an easier time filling out applications. Thanks again!