Box 4 of the 1098 form is one figure, payments received by the school is another, do I check that this is not what I paid the school?

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
May 9, 2020
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TurboTax Deluxe Online

Hal_Al

Employee

The 1098-T is only an informational document. The numbers on it are not required to be entered onto your tax return.

You claim the tuition credit, or report scholarship income, based on your own financial records, not the 1098-T.

So, yes, if you need to, In the 1098-T screen, click on the link "What if this is not what I paid the school" underneath box 1 and enter the correct amount. TurboTax will not do anything, automatically, with the amount in box 4.

black3beardAuthor

Thank you, I meant box 1 not bix 4. How would I know if i need to select the option for thai is not what I paid to the school?

Hal_Al

Employee

Q. How would I know if i need to select the option for that is not what I paid to the school?

A. From your own records (school billing statements and bank account statements). You apparently already know. You started with the statement "box 1 of the 1098 form is one figure, payments received by the school is another".

Yours is a common situation, that's why that link is there.

Carl11_2

Employee

Scholarships, grants and 529 distributions are reported as taxable income *INITIALLY* in the tax year they are received. It does not matter what tax year that money is *for*.

Qualified Education Expenses are claimed/reported in the tax year they are paid. It does not matter what year is paid *for*.

Box 1 of the 1098-T is monies paid to the school from all sources in 2019.

Box 5 of the 1098-T is all *THIRD PARTY* income received by the school on the student's behalf in 2019. That would be scholarships, grants, and possibly 529 distributions if those distributions were made directly to the school. Scholarships, grants, 529 distributions are claimed/reported as taxable income *INITIALLY* in the tax year it is received. It "does" "not" "matter" what tax year that received money is *for*. The taxability of that income will be offset by the qualified education expenses it is used to pay for "IN THE SAME TAX YEAR".

Boz 1 of the 1098-T is all monies paid to the school from all sources, for your qualified education expenses. The amount in box 1 includes all monies reported in box 5, as well as any other monies paid to the school from any source, not included in box 5.

Enter the 1098-T *exactly* as printed and continue. The followup screens will then ask you about monies not included on the 1098-T. For the followup screens make sure you read the small print and *pay* *attention* *to* *the* *details*. Otherwise, you're guaranteed to mess things up bad.