1098T College Tuition for my son

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
April 16, 2022
2 replies
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I am trying to file our taxes. Last year I claimed my son as a dependent. It was his first year of college and did not work previous year. This year his second year of college he did get a summer job and he filed his own taxes this year. This year we still paid his tuition. I'm getting hung up on the 1098T. It wants a link to the dependent and does not list my son Damian, it only lists my other two sons as options or to link to the taxpayer if they are the student which my wife and I are the taxpayers but not the student. Please advise.

Not A Product Question

JillS56

You can only claim the education credit if the student is listed on your return. If your son is between the ages of 19 and 24 and a college student, you are eligible to continue to claim them as a dependent. Unless your son made enough to support himself, then he should not have claimed himself. There is a box that he could have checked that states that he is being claimed by another. He would have still been able to receive almost the full amount of withholdings on his federal. I cannot speak to the state, because I do not know what state you reside in.

For you to claim the education credit. Your son would have to submit an amended return and report that he was being claimed as a dependent. You can then file a return claiming your son and take the education credit.

NOTE: Because your son already filed, you will not be able to e-file your return. You will have to submit your return by mail. Your son can e-file his amendment. However, make sure that he has received his refund before he submits an amendment. His return must be processed by the IRS before submitting an amendment.

Hal_Al

Employee

Confirming the other answer, you cannot claim the tuition credit ("claim the 1098-T") if the student was not your dependent, even though you paid the tuition. For, technical reasons, he can probably not claim it either.

It is highly unlikely that your son does not still qualify as your dependent, just because he had a summer job.

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and Other ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, student status, a relationship test and residence test.

A child of a taxpayer can still be a “Qualifying Child” (QC) dependent, regardless of his/her income, if:

He is under age 19, or under 24 if a full time student for at least 5 months of the year, or is totally & permanently disabled
He did not provide more than 1/2 his own support. Scholarships are excluded from the support calculation
He lived with the parent (including temporary absences such as away at school) for more than half the year

So, it doesn't matter how much he earned. What matters is how much he spent on support. Money he put into savings does not count as support he spent on him self.

The support value of the home, provided by the parent, is the fair market rental value of the home plus utilities & other expenses divided by the number of occupants.

Furthermore, there is a rule that says IF somebody else CAN claim him as a dependent, he is not allowed to claim himself. If he has sufficient income (usually more than $12,550), he can & should still file taxes. In TurboTax, he indicates that somebody else can claim him as a dependent, at the personal information section. TT will check that box on form 1040.

Even if he had less, he is allowed to file if he needs to get back income tax withholding. He cannot get back social security or Medicare tax withholding.

See full dependent rules at: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Rules-for-Claiming-a-Dependent-on-Your-Tax-Return/INF12139.html