<p>my d's college doesn't send out a 1098T if the scholarships are larger than the billable charges, as in her case. my question is, when filing my tax return, do I need to use the info that would be on the 1098T even though none was sent, using Taxact.com</p>
<p>It looks like I will be eligible for the AOC based on the amount spent on books. Wondering if I can simply indicate this amount, without including all the scholarship and tuition/fees info. </p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>It’s easiest when using a tax program like Taxact to just enter the info it asks for. It should ask for qualified education expenses and scholarships not reported to you on a 1098T. Using bills, bursar account statements, records of payment, receipts etc., enter the amounts for those questions. I use the downloadable Taxact and I’m not aware of a way to enter the amount of the credit more directly.</p>
<p>By going through all the questions, Taxact should tell you whether any of the scholarship money is taxable to your daughter. It will also tell you how you may be able to get a bigger AOC by having your daughter shift some of the scholarship money to non-QEE like room and board, report more as income but you get a bigger AOC. You should do a return for the parent(s) and one for your daughter to coordinate the two. Does your daughter have income from work, interest etc.?</p>
<p>The info you enter into Taxact isn’t sent to the IRS except for the summary info that is required on Form 8863 for the AOC.</p>
<p>thanks annoyingdad. her scholarships cover all of her tuition, and she also has a prepaid plan. So the only eligible expenses for AOC is books. Trying to determine if her replacement laptop is a qualified expense.</p>
<p>She doesn’t have any income from work, and no interest income. It appears she won’t have to file as she does not meet the $5700</p>
<p>I didn’t realize that the info entered to determine AOC isn’t sent to IRS. It looks like the only info on form 8863 is the amount of qualifying expenses.</p>
<p>so if I understand, I would enter the charges billed into the box-tuition and fees not entered on the 1098T. Since there’s no 1098T, the first box on Taxact says tuition and fees entered on 1098T = 0. Seemed to not make sense? but that doesn’t mean it’s not right. ;)</p>
<p>A laptop is only a QEE if it is required by the school to be purchased by all students in her course of study.</p>
<p>As you know, QEE has to be reduced by non-taxable scholarships/grants. What I’m saying is that by making part of her scholarships taxable to her by saying that part went to room and board, you can have more QEE than just the book amount to use for the AOC. She still may not have to file, scholarships are considered earned income by the IRS. You only need $4000 of QEE for the maximum AOC. Since you paid some expenses with QTP funds it makes it a little more complicated because QEE paid with non-taxable QTP funds can’t be used for the AOC.</p>
<p>Here’s what I did for 2012 with my daughter who had no other income other than a small amount of interest. I allocated some of her scholarships to room and board to give me more QEE for AOC. I also had her report the earnings portion of our 529 distribution as taxable. Between doing those two things, I had more QEE for the AOC. She does have to file a return because making the 529 earnings taxable involves form 5329. Making the 529 distribution taxable to get a bigger AOC for you means the 10% penalty isn’t applicable.</p>
<p>Depending on the amount of your 529 distribution, reporting the earnings as taxable may not be necessary to get the maximum AOC.</p>
<p>On your return, Taxact will ask how much of her scholarship your daughter chooses to put toward non-QEE. If you go through a return for her in Taxact even if you aren’t required to file it, it will ask on her return how much you put toward the AOC on your return. This way Taxact coordinates those amounts. You should enter the 1099Q info on both returns also.</p>
<p>IRS Pub 970 has the details of taxable scholarships, the AOC and QTP distributions:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf[/url]”>http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf</a></p>
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<p>That’s right and it makes sense to me.:)</p>
<p>the 1098T info the school provided, (informally, no actual document) shows charges billed, however we did not pay any tuition. is this still the accurate amount to input?</p>
<p>thank you for the clarification on how to report QTP etc, however, between my d’s scholarships and prepaid tuition plan, I did not pay anything towards her tuition, or room and board, only her books and laptop with out of pocket cash. so I don’t think that would apply in her situation. I can’t complain obviously.</p>
<p>Yes, all tuition and mandatory fee amounts billed are what you put for QEE. Scholarships will be subtracted from that to get QEE paid which you are saying will be 0. Then Taxact will ask for books/supplies not billed for.</p>
<p>Note what I said in my prior post about the laptop.</p>
<p>got it. really appreciate all your time!</p>