<p>This is probably addressed on one of the threads that talks about 1098Ts but I've looked.....</p>
<p>What have/would you do in this situation? We want the highest tax credit we can get, naturally, but not if it lands me in IRS hell. My son is a freshman and has a tuition scholarship to a public university. The scholarship reads that the scholarship is equal to the value of tuition but if tuition is paid by an outside source, except Academic Common Market, it can be used for other educational expenses. It is the only scholarship he has at the school we pay all other expenses. On the bursars statement for fall semester it lists all his costs ($20K R&B, tuition, fees) and the credits show this XX scholarship (equal to the exact tuition $) and our payments. So Im thinking for the AOC tax credit I can only claim the roughly $1,000 of qualified expenses (fees/books) he has above the tuition amount. </p>
<p>The spirit of the scholarship is obviously that it covers tuition. However, is it legit to claim $3,000 of this tuition scholarship as taxable income to my son (so we have $4,000 in QEE) and take the full $2,500 AOC credit on our return? </p>
<p>This is what IRS Pub 970 says:
In some cases, you may be able to reduce your tax liability by including scholarships in income. If you are claiming an education credit for a claimed dependent who received a scholarship, you may be able to reduce your tax liability if the student includes the scholarship in income. The scholarship must be one that may (by its terms) be applied to expenses (such as room and board) other than qualified education expenses</p>