Taxes?

Paying for College
1

<p>It's tax season, our favorite time of year. Well, formerly my favorite time of year, because I would inevitably get a few hundred bucks or so back from the IRS for being so poor. However, it looks like I might be in trouble.</p>

<p>I started going to a tax prep firm five years ago when I started working, and my tax guy would always find some magical way of getting me money each year. This did not change when I went back to grad school full time three years ago, even though my friends told me that they ended up paying- sometimes a couple thousand dollars- to the government for taxes. I was confused, but never being one who understood (or cared to understand) math, I just figured my tax guy was awesome and knew some perfectly legal tricks to benefit me as a relatively poor student.</p>

<p>However, I just realized what a dunce I am. I'd wait till I got a my tax papers in the mail and just take them over to my tax guy. But what I didn't even think of was that I was not getting any papers that dealt with my grad student stipend, because it was not taxed. In short, I haven't been reporting my stipend for the last 3 years. I've only been reporting my income from my TAships, which already has taxes taken out of it. This is why my friends were paying a couple thousand and I was getting a few hundred back every year. Now I'm in a difficult position of figuring out what to do, now that I know I'm actually committing fraud.</p>

<p>I'm anxious that my suddenly reporting my stipend might draw attention to the fact that despite nothing changing in my job or life, I'm getting a good chunk more (on paper) than I was before. I'm scared of continuing to do what I've been doing and then getting audited, in which the government will call me out on my back taxes.</p>

<p>Any advice!?</p>

2

<p>Although it will be painful financially, you can file amended returns for the past 3 yrs and declare your stipend in them. You’ll probably sleep better.</p>

3

<p>“I was not getting any papers that dealt with my grad student stipend, because it was not taxed.”</p>

<p>Are you saying that you did not receive ANY paperwork from the university about this? Go talk with them FIRST. It is possible that this money is non-taxable and so the university doesn’t need to give you any paperwork. If your income is classified as self-employment, you should have received a 1099 each year.</p>

<p>Before you hit the panic button, ask one of your grad school pals if they would let you look at a copy of their tax returns. It is possible that your tax firm got it right, in which case your buddies might be the ones who want to file a couple years’ worth of 1040x forms.</p>

4

<p>^^Thanks hm1, yes definitely check with your school to find out the tax status of your stipend to see if you need to declare it on taxes.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the replies. I did not receive any paperwork related to the stipend. As I said, I did receive paperwork regarding the teaching paychecks (which is why I submitted them). I’ll definitely ask the university about the nature of the stipend (taxable or not).</p>

6

<p>Schools are not required to send you paperwork for your non-service stipend. I know this because I just looked into taxes for my D, who received a non-service stipend this past summer. The school does not report these earnings to the IRS as income, but if the school is ever audited, the income is on file … and you could face some stiff penalties/fines if you were required to file & did not do so.</p>