<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I know it may not be the right place to ask this, but many people on this forum seem to have great knowledge about financial topics, so I thought I would ask.</p>
<p>I got a tuition statement from UCSD about the grants I received for 2011-12, but I was not planning on filing taxes. Now I'm wondering if I should. I have never filed for taxes after my divorce because I don't work, and my grandfather-in-law told me that if I make less than 800$ a year (I make 0 since I am not working), I don't have to file. However, I got $20'945 in grants for 2011-12, so does that mean I should file? I'm just confused now.</p>
<p>Thank you for reading :)</p>
<p>A good portion of those grants went for your UC tuition/fees. And books as well.</p>
<p>Those amounts are not taxable (which for you is about $15k, right?). </p>
<p>The remainder will be about $5k-6k that might be taxable. Hopefully others can chime in with more info.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input Mom2CollegeKids.</p>
<p>Yes it says on the form $14’723 went for tuition and related expenses. So the remaining is $6222. I used that for books/living expenses. I also took out some loans, but I haven’t had to use them yet.</p>
<p>Scholarships/grants that exceed qualified education expenses (basically tuition/fees/required books) are taxable scholarship income. So you need to determine if the amount of taxable scholarship income added to your other income is high enough to require you to file.</p>
<p>i am not sure where your grandfather gets the $800 figure. If you are claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return, and all your income is earned income (taxable scholarships are considered earned income for this purpose), then the cutoff for being required to file will generally be your standard deduction which is $5,800 for a single person for 2011. If you have any unearned income the cut off can be lower.</p>
<p>The amount that you used for books isn’t taxable, either.</p>
<p>I believe that you’re independent, right? So no one is claiming you on their taxes, right?</p>
<p>It doesn’t sound like you’ll owe any fed taxes…but not sure about Calif taxes.</p>
<p>Yeah I am independent and no one is claiming me on their taxes. I took a questionnaire on the Irs site and it said I don’t have to file because my income is less than 9500$. Now I have to check for CA taxes though.</p>