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.
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.
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.
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.
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In order for the withdrawn money to NOT be taxed, they have to be used for QTRE.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The 529 account administrator sent me a 1099 with the amount that was withdrawn during 2019… That amount matches up with my records.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.