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May 15, 2021
Question

Can I claim a board / meal amount if I had a 529 plan distribution and my daughter lived at home?

  • May 15, 2021
  • 1 reply
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My daughter is a full time college student who we claim as a dependent and we pay basically all of her expenses.  She moved home from the dorm during the spring 2020 semester and stayed at home the rest of 2020.  We paid for part of her college expenses using a 529 distribution.  For her fall 2020 semester, all of her classes were online due to covid, so there was no need to purchase even the minimum meal plan.  I did not realize until recently that "board" (meals) while living at home can be applied to the 529 distribution, so I did not keep track of food cost (groceries, etc.) for her.  The university financial aid office has provided me with a meal/living allowance amount for the school year for students who are living with parents.  Since I do not have the actual food amount, I don't know if the actual cost was less than the university provided amount.    Can I claim the university provided amount anyway?  Also, since I am only asking about the fall 2020 semester, I believe I would only use half of the university provided amount?  (She has lived at home this current semester also, but any meal/food expense were incurred in 2021.)  

    1 reply

    Hal_Al
    Employee
    May 15, 2021

      Q. Can I claim the university provided amount anyway? 

      A.  Yes.  It's almost always lower than actual costs, and "close enough".