Why is room and board not listed on form 1098-T?

Hi fellow parents,
I just received the 1098-T from UCLA for my son. The amount only includes tuition.
I read on multiple websites that housing and meals are QTRE (qualified tuition and related expenses), yet UCLA’s website says otherwise. My son stays on-campus.

https://www.savingforcollege.com/article/what-you-can-pay-for-with-a-529-plan

https://www.finance.ucla.edu/1098Tinfo

I’ve already emailed UCLA to ask about this, but I suspect they’re not gonna do anything about it. I’m posting this question here is just to find out if it’s the same at your kids’ college as well.

Thank you,

Room and board are not qualifying expenses. If you have scholarships, any amount used to pay for room and board is taxable. Tuition and fees are qualifying expenses. To my knowledge this is not school specific.

Thank you for your response.
According to the SEC, room and board ARE qualified expenses. It’s so confusing when the laws say one thing and the schools say another.

Our 529 plan is the Education Savings Plan.

https://www.sec.gov/reportspubs/investor-publications/investorpubsintro529htm.html

In terms of allowable reasons to take out of 529, they may be, but I don’t think a 1098 deals with 529 issues - only scholarships and tuition billed/paid. I could be wrong. I thought you were talking about scholarships and education tax credits. Sorry, missed that link referred to 529s.

Note that 1098 is for information purposes and may not match up exactly for how you put numbers in tax return.

While they are qualified for a 529 withdrawal, R&B are not eligible expenses for the education tax credits on your 1040.

Ah, I see that there 2 different issues here.

QTRE: Qualified Tuition and Related Expenses.

Education tax credits.

To be clear, I’m asking about the former.
I’ve been putting money into a 529 account.
I withdrew money from there to pay for tuition, housing and meal plans.
In order for the withdrawn money to NOT be taxed, they have to be used for QTRE.

I keep detailed reports of money leaving the 529 plan, and what they were used for.
The 529 account administrator sent me a 1099 with the amount that was withdrawn during 2019… That amount matches up with my records.

However, the 1098-T form from UCLA lists an amount that’s much less (because it only includes tuition) than the 1099 form (includes tuition AND housing/meal plans). Thus my question.

I don’t want the housing/meal plans amount that was paid for from the 529 plan to be taxed. It shouldn’t be.

I hope I’ve cleared it up a bit for you guys.

Thank you,

^^yeah, we get what you are trying to do, but that is not the purpose of a 1098. Any of the major online tax programs will handle this easily.

Definitely two different animals. Here is a link to 1098-T information that may help you to understand its purpose: https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/education-credits-questions-and-answers.