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March 18, 2023
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529 plan distrbutions

  • March 18, 2023
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I'm helping my son file his taxes.  He is a student with no earned income and minimal dividends / capital gains distributions.

 

His taxes should be simple.  He received a 1099Q for $13K which was the payment to his college for all of his expenses (tuition, room & board, and required college fees).  He received a 1098-T from his college for $5K, which was just his tuition).  

 

I added the $13K in the 1099-Q section of income.  Under Deductions & Credits - Education section, I added the $13K in the "ESA and 529 qualified tuition programs" section.  This was entered as $5K Tuition and $8K as Other Education Expenses.  

 

Turboxtax is saying he has to pay $574 of Federal Taxes.  Am I inputting this incorrectly?  

 

Note: should I be including the 1099-Q and 1099-T on our taxes instead of my son's?  The 1099-Q and 1099-T have his name on them.  His passive income is >$200 so he probably wouldn't need to file a tax form just for that.  

    Best answer by Hal_Al

     Q.  I think this should be $0 since his qualified expenses = 529 Plan distributions. 

    A. Yes, that's correct.

     

    Q. Can anyone advise how to fix this?

    A. The usual reason TurboTax (TT) gets it wrong is that it assigns some of the tuition to claiming the tuition credit, whether the parents actually did or not. 

    Delete the 1099-Q and 1098-T and start over. Re-Enter the 1099-Q first. Later, the 1098-T.  In the education interview, answer yes when asked if you have book expenses.  That will get you the screen to enter room and board. 

    When you get to the screen titled “Amount Used to Calculate Education Deduction or Credit”, verify the amount you want to use or change it (it sounds like it should be 0 in your case).

     

    Q.  We are not including the 1098-T on our (parents) tax return since all of the tuition/college expenses were paid for with the 529 plan distributions.

    A. You are not required to do it that way.  You are allowed to allocate the expenses between the 1099-Q and the tuition credit to get the maximum tax benefit.  The American Opportunity Credit (AOC or AOTC) is 100% of the first $2000 of tuition and 25% of the next $2000 ($2500 maximum credit).  There is an income limit of $180K (married filing jointly) to qualify for the credit.  

     

     

     

     

    1 reply

    Hal_Al
    Employee
    March 18, 2023

    "Minimal" dividends / capital gains distributions is less than $1150.  If he has less than that and no other income, he does not need to file a tax return, unless some of the 1099-Q is taxable.

     

    Since all of the 529 plan distribution (1099-Q) was for the payment of all his college expenses (tuition, room & board, and required college fees), none of it is taxable.  

     

    The 1099-Q and the  1098-T are only informational documents. The numbers on them are not required to be entered onto your (or your student's) tax return. 

     You can just not report the 1099-Q, at all, if your student-beneficiary has sufficient educational expenses, including room & board (even if he lives at home) to cover the distribution. When the box 1 amount on form 1099-Q is fully covered by expenses, TurboTax will enter nothing about the 1099-Q on the actual tax forms. But, it will prepare a 1099-Q worksheet for your records. You would still have to do the math to see if there were enough expenses left over for you to claim the tuition credit. You also cannot count expenses that were paid by tax free scholarships. You cannot double dip! 

    On form 1099-Q, instructions to the recipient reads: "Nontaxable distributions from CESAs and QTPs are not required to be reported on your income tax return. You must determine the taxability of any distribution." 

     

    Q. Turboxtax is saying he has to pay $574 of Federal Taxes.  Am I inputting this incorrectly?  

    A. Probably not. But it depends on more details.  Bottom line: if you know none of the 1099-Q is not taxable, just don't enter it. 

     

    Q. Should I be including the 1099-Q and 1099-T on our taxes instead of my son's?  The 1099-Q and 1099-T have his name on them.  

    A. Yes and no.  You cannot enter the 1099-Q on your return, since it is in his name (he is the recipient of the funds). The same is not true of the 1098-T. You enter it, on your return, but only  if you are claiming the tuition credit. 

    ________________________________________________________________________________________

    Qualified Tuition Plans  (QTP 529 Plans) Distributions

    General Discussion

    It’s complicated.

    For 529 plans, there is an “owner” (usually the parent), and a “beneficiary” (usually the student dependent). The "recipient" of the distribution can be either the owner or the beneficiary depending on who the money was sent to. When the money goes directly from the Qualified Tuition Plan (QTP) to the school, the student is the "recipient". The distribution will be reported on IRS form 1099-Q. 
    The 1099-Q gets reported on the recipient's return.** The recipient's name & SS# will be on the 1099-Q.
    Even though the 1099-Q is going on the student's return, the 1098-T should go on the parent's return, so you can claim the education credit. You can do this because he is your dependent.

    You can and should claim the tuition credit before claiming the 529 plan earnings exclusion. The educational expenses he claims for the 1099-Q should be reduced by the amount of educational expenses you claim for the credit.
    But be aware, you can not double dip. You cannot count the same tuition money, for the tuition credit,  that gets him an exclusion from the taxability of the earnings (interest) on the 529 plan. Since the credit is more generous; use as much of the tuition as is needed for the credit and the rest for the interest exclusion. Another special rule allows you to claim the tuition credit even though it was "his" money that paid the tuition.
    In addition, there is another rule that says the 10% penalty is waived if he was unable to cover the 529 plan withdrawal with educational expenses either because he got scholarships or the expenses were used (by him or the parents) to claim the credits. He'll have to pay tax on the earnings, at his lower tax rate (subject to the “kiddie tax”), but not the penalty.

     

    Total qualified expenses (including room & board) less amounts paid by scholarship less amounts used to claim the Tuition credit equals the amount you can use to claim the earnings exclusion on the 1099-Q. 
    Example:
      $10,000 in educational expenses(including room & board)

       -$3000 paid by tax free scholarship***

       -$4000 used to claim the American Opportunity credit

     =$3000 Can be used against the 1099-Q (on the recipient’s return)

     

    Box 1 of the 1099-Q is $5000

    Box 2 is $2800

    3000/5000=60% of the earnings are tax free; 40% are taxable

    40% x 2800= $1120

    There is  $1120 of taxable income (on the recipient’s return)

     

    **Alternatively; you can just not report the 1099-Q, at all, if your student-beneficiary has sufficient educational expenses, including room & board (even if he lives at home) to cover the distribution. You would still have to do the math to see if there were enough expenses left over for you to claim the tuition credit. Again, you cannot double dip!  When the box 1 amount on form 1099-Q is fully covered by expenses, TurboTax will enter nothing about the 1099-Q on the actual tax forms. But, it will prepare a 1099-Q worksheet for your records, in case of an IRS inquiry.

    On form 1099-Q, instructions to the recipient reads: "Nontaxable distributions from CESAs and QTPs are not required to be reported on your income tax return. You must determine the taxability of any distribution." 

    ***Another alternative is have the student report some of his scholarship as taxable income, to free up some expenses for the 1099-Q and/or tuition credit. Most people come out better having the scholarship taxable before the 529 earnings. 

    splosslAuthor
    March 18, 2023

    Thanks for the response. 

     

    I get your point that we could exclude both the 1099-Q and 1098-T since all of the 529 Plan distributions paid for qualified educational expenses.  But I would prefer to include them, so there aren't questions in the future. 

     

    I looked at his old 1040 and there was no income included on line 8 "Other income from Schedule 1, line 10" in his 2020 tax return.  But for 2022, Line 8 includes $3K of income that comes from Schedule 1, line 8z (with the description "Qual State Tuition Prgm from 1099-Q").  I think this should be $0 since his qualified expenses = 529 Plan distributions.  Can anyone advise how to fix this?

     

    To clarify, things should be simple for his return because:

    - we are not including the 1098-T on our (parents) tax return since all of the tuition/college expenses were paid for with the 529 plan distributions.

    - he has no scholarships

     

    Hal_Al
    Hal_AlAnswer
    Employee
    March 18, 2023

     Q.  I think this should be $0 since his qualified expenses = 529 Plan distributions. 

    A. Yes, that's correct.

     

    Q. Can anyone advise how to fix this?

    A. The usual reason TurboTax (TT) gets it wrong is that it assigns some of the tuition to claiming the tuition credit, whether the parents actually did or not. 

    Delete the 1099-Q and 1098-T and start over. Re-Enter the 1099-Q first. Later, the 1098-T.  In the education interview, answer yes when asked if you have book expenses.  That will get you the screen to enter room and board. 

    When you get to the screen titled “Amount Used to Calculate Education Deduction or Credit”, verify the amount you want to use or change it (it sounds like it should be 0 in your case).

     

    Q.  We are not including the 1098-T on our (parents) tax return since all of the tuition/college expenses were paid for with the 529 plan distributions.

    A. You are not required to do it that way.  You are allowed to allocate the expenses between the 1099-Q and the tuition credit to get the maximum tax benefit.  The American Opportunity Credit (AOC or AOTC) is 100% of the first $2000 of tuition and 25% of the next $2000 ($2500 maximum credit).  There is an income limit of $180K (married filing jointly) to qualify for the credit.