For the life of me, I cannot find a way to enter my daughter's Room & Board

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
March 3, 2025
1 reply
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I have gone through TurboTax Deluxe 2024 section on education every which way I can think of, answering prompts in different ways just to see what would happen, and still I cannot find a place where I can enter her room & board expenses (which were paid for with qualified 529 funds). I can enter her books and materials under 'other education expenses' but that's it. The Tuition section is just the amounts from the 1098-T which does not include Room and Board. Can you help?

Hal_Al

Employee

Room & Board (R&B) is only a qualified expense for the 529 Plan distributions. As such, TurboTax (TT) will not let you enter R&B unless you have first entered a 1099-Q. After entering the 1099-Q, later at the 1098-T section, answer yes when asked if you have book expenses. TT will then have the R&B box on the next screen.

If it's not there, you may have to delete the 1098-T and re-enter.

dmk5Author

Thank you so much. The challenge I see with this potential solution is that every way I've tried to enter the 1099-Q TurboTax is designating it a 'taxable' distribution even though everything was used to pay for her college. In looking at these TT community forums the best answer was to simply delete the 1099-Q if I know it's for qualified expenses. I seem to be in hopeless circle. I need to enter the room and board, but can't, and don't want to be taxed on the 529, but am. Help!

annieland

Employee

If you're using a Desktop version, try doing it in forms mode, it's a little more robust and easier to break down expenses than the lackluster interview. Find the "Student Info Wk" under the Dependent Worksheet. Scroll down through that and you can enter your expenses where you want to, and ensure it balances out to show no taxable value of the 529 distribution. Room and Board I put on line 6 in the first column. In the end nothing ends up getting reported on your submitted return (if they're all qualified expenses), but I like to make sure everything is balanced and entered correctly in my records too.