<p>Regarding TurboRax 2012 tax return, the 1098T info is being entered and is putting a number on the income line as scholarship income. However for both filers the amount of tuition paid is greater than the amount of scholarship given, so none of the monies should be income.</p>
<p>Anyone had this happen and do you know where the mistake is? Regarding the 1098T, TurboTax asks about the amount actually paid for tuition, should that include the total tuition or be the net of tuition - scholarship money?</p>
<p>Ya know, the more I read all the posts about how tax software, tax preparers, and even CPAs are generally clueless about dealing with the tax issues surrounding higher education, the happier I am that I do our taxes myself.</p>
<p>It’s not rocket surgery, as we say in my house. IRS Pub. 970 (as well as the instructions for the various forms such as 8863) is your friend - read it, learn from it, and do what it says when you file your return. And the math skills required to prepare your own return are junior-high level at best.
(Complex investments are another matter. But it floors me that people with fairly basic tax situations pay to have others do their tax returns. I’d rather spend the money on a nice dinner, or two, or three… Ditto with paying to e-file - if the fed or state govt wants me to make things easier for THEM by e-filing, then I should be able to do it for FREE via helpful IRS or state tax commission websites which incorporate high quality software to guide the taxpayer through the process. I wonder how many gazillions of dollars the HRBlock/Turbotax/etc lobbyists pay to keep this from happening.)</p>
<p>OP - don’t mean to sound like I’m jumping on you specifically - there are just SOOOOO many threads about how “Turbotax screwed up” or “my preparer messed up our American Opportunity Credit” or “My CPA doesn’t know his *** from his elbow when it comes to the AOC or the 1098T or 529 plans” and on and on and on. I guess I’m enough of a control freak that I’m more comfortable educating myself and doing it myself. Besides, it’s good brain exercise to help fend off the Alzheimer’s, etc.! :-)</p>
<p>Momcat2- most people don’t want to study all pieces of tax law and certainly don’t study those things that don’t immediately relate to them. I see it all the time. To some people it is worth pouring over tax laws for hours. I feel when I am working I am giving people that time back.</p>
<p>As for higher education, I find the biggest problem comes from colleges not accurately reporting. A bursar’s report along with a 1098-T is very useful.</p>
<p>MomCat2- I agree with you.
I’ve used TurboTax successfully for about the last 8 yrs.
BUT while DS was in school (4.5 undergrad and 2 grad), I double and tripled checked all the college related steps. Even did study that IRS 970 and form 8863…and spoke with IRS via phone and documented all.
The $$$ involved were worth my time as we were paying his tuition and R&B for most of that time.</p>
<p>Happy now, DS may stop by to use my copy of TT for HIS OWN returns (or not)…his deal now.</p>
<p>I started, finished and efiled our federal and state returns in under 2 hours this am with TT. Of course, our financials are straightforward and others are not.<br>
Kinda pleased that we have simple boring financial lives now.</p>
<p>I am not sure a simple free filing on Turbo Tax is any more difficult to learn than the paper return. Just as with the FAFSA or the 1040, using the program is a matter of learning to read the questions the right way. Some times the questions can be confusing or misleading.</p>
<p>I have used TT in the past, but prefer the IRS website’s own Free Fillable Forms for our current set of crazy tax issues. TT is great when things are straight-forward and come with the right documents. However TT is not so good if the paper trail is less complete.</p>
<p>We got a free copy of Turbo Tax and actually found it very user friendly. We still had to do quite a bit of checking regarding the scholarship thing. I had to find answers for myself by digging around the internet. It took a while but we feel pretty satisfied that our taxes and our son’s taxes are done correctly.</p>
<p>I’ve used Turbo Tax for many years. The help section is very useful as are the community boards there. If you still can’t find the answer, they have tax experts you can chat with. I’ve used a CPA a few times in the past and have also run TT and the numbers come out the same. Actually one time the CPA missed something on our taxes and ended up having to file an amended form. I figured I did it wrong on TT but I had done it correctly. It was a $2000 error on his part-fortunately in our favor.</p>
<p>I use the H&R block software to do my taxes and it has worked out fine until this 1098-T situation. I get to that section and it says I’m not eligible for any of the deductions (unusually inflated income for 2012) so it doesn’t let me enter the information. When I do my D’s return, it says she’s not eligible because she is claimed as my dependent. I know we aren’t eligible for the tuition tax breaks, but I feel like we’re supposed to be reporting that grant info somehow. I may have to do hers manually, although I don’t think she really has to file since she didn’t make hardly any money last year.</p>