<p>So.. I have $8000 in "qualified tuition and related expenses" (according to 1098-t) and an additional $15000 in scholarships and grants that are "taxable"; also, my personal income was around $3500 last year for my work-study job. </p>
<p>Apparently Room & Board does not constitute a "qualified" expense, so will I really have to pay taxes for that, considering I exclusively used university/government grants and loans for R&B and other expenses?</p>
<p>It seems mighty weird that I should get grants and loans from the government to help me pay for college, and I get taxes tacked on come April. Something doesn't seem right. I looked at the Hope and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits, but I don't believe that it applies to me because my "qualified tuition and related expenses" were covered by scholarships.</p>
<p>Yes, you have to pay taxes on the $15,000 of grants and your work study money. That's because room and board is an expense everyone has -- if you weren't in school you would have to pay rent and eat. So money that goes for that is taxable.</p>
<p>The OP should have a 1098T. On it there is a spot for tuition, and another spot for the amount awarded. If the amount awarded exceeds the amount on the tuition line (I'm sorry, I don't remember the specific names of those lines on the 1098T), the OP will pay taxes on only the difference. This would be in addition to any taxes on income from employment. In many cases, the student still will owe no taxes or may get a refund because of the rate at which they are taxed, or because the still do not meet the threshold for income needing to pay taxes.</p>
<p>Check the figures on your 1098T. For instance, my DD's college has just changed how it reports tuition charges. Before, they put the charge in the month it was due (e.g. spring tuition 2005, due in December of 2004, was on the 1098t for 2004.) They have just switched it, and now the charges for spring 2006 are reported on the 2006 1098T - even if the charges are paid in December of 2005. Since my Dd also studied abroad, and those charges were paid directly to the IES program, my DD's 1098T shows only 260$ of tuition charges, and thousands of dollars of scholarships. She is definitely not going to pay taxes on those scholarships, because the 1098T is "inaccurate" in our case. Maybe she'll/we'll get audited for taking a lifetime learning deduction, but we have the proof to show that we actually paid thousands in tuition expenses. Check and see that your 1098T is accurate. (ours is; sort of!)</p>
<p>The amount you spend on books, supplies, and equipment required for your courses is also exempt from federal income tax. That doesn't show on your 1098-T, so you'll need to keep records and add the amount you spent for required books, supplies, and equipment to the tuition and fees amount shown on the 1098-T to figure how much of your grant/scholarship is exempt from federal tax.</p>
<p>ttgiang15-
the link is below for the IRS document on higher ed deductions. The good news: your student loans are NOT income, they are not considered. Only grants and scholarships that were not used for tutition and qualifying fees are considered to be income. (the amount on your 1098-T is the amount your college has determined were qualifiying fees and tutition). It is pretty much as simple as this: take the amount of scholarships and grants from your 1098-T, and minus the amount of qualifying fees/tution, from your 1098T, and the difference is your income from scholarships. </p>
<p>The definition of qualifying fees and expenses is NOT all fees, health fees for example are not included, but student assn fees are. Books, supplies and equipment are NOT qualifying expenses unless they are required for all students in a class AND are required to be purchased at the college or university exclusively. Therefore, most books and supplies are not deductible. </p>
<p>There are pretty simple explanations of IRS definitions on pages 32-37 here:</p>