Question

I paid for my child's college tuition, $3760.00. Is that deductible?

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
June 12, 2019
6 replies
0 views

IRS says:
Who Can Claim a Dependent's Expenses Generally, in order to claim the tuition and fees deduction for qualified education expenses for a dependent, you must:
1) Have paid the expenses.
2)Claim an exemption for the student as a dependent.

I do not understand #2.
Isn't he my dependent anyway since I paid for all of his support?
He also worked part time and lived at home the entire year. He was 20 years old for ten months in 2014.

TurboTax Deluxe Online

A

alwayson27

To clarify... The amount reported on the 1098T sent to my dependent son, is recorded on my taxes since I paid that tuition; correct?

T

TCMAR

Hello there, I understood the above message. but my question is, I paid more than the amount shown on the 1098T, so can I show the total amount actually I paid?

Thank you in advance !

Hal_Al

Employee

@TCMAR - Yes.

You claim the tuition credit, or report scholarship income, based on your own financial records, not the 1098-T. In the 1098-T screen, click on the link "What if this is not what I paid the school" underneath box 1. You will then be able to enter the actual amounts paid.

The 1098-T is only any informational document. The numbers on it are not required to be entered onto your tax return. However receipt of a 1098-T frequently means you are either eligible for a tuition credit or deduction or possibly your student has taxable scholarship income.

If you claim the tuition credit, you do need to report that you got one or that you qualify for an exception (the TurboTax interview will handle this)

M

Mock

Yes, paying for your son's College tuition is deductible. He should also receive a Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement which reports the amount of qualified education expenses paid by the student (or you) during the tax year. Educational institutions you paid tuition to should send you this form by January 31.

Yes, you can still claim your son as a dependent under the Qualifying Child rules. Your son can also file his tax return and receive a refund of the taxes withheld. However, he must indicate on this tax return that he can be claimed as a dependent on someone else's return.

To be a Qualifying Child -

1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.

2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of the year, (b) under age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student or (c) any age and permanently and totally disabled.

3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year. Temporary absences while away at college are considered living with you.

4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.

5. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child.

6. The child must be a U.S. citizen or U.S., Canada or Mexico resident for some portion of the year.

7. The child must be younger than you unless disabled.

Here are links to the IRS website for more information: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p929.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch06.html#en_US_2013_publink1000295021

I hope this helps! If you have any additional questions, please feel free to add a comment below!

1

1krazykrautAuthor

Turbo Tax says: Kyle Make $3,950 or More Last Year which is the only factor that Turbo Tax rejects him as my dependent. If I say he made less than that, then he becomes my dependent. Is this accurate?

DJS

Employee

Your question concerns whether he is your dependent for the purpose of claiming the tuition and fees deduction The answer is that if you are able to claim him as a dependent on your tax return, then he is your dependent for the tuition and fees deduction. However, as indicated above, there are technical requirements for claiming someone as a dependent that are not just whether you provided support. Here is a good description of those requirements: https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894472-who-is-a-dependent

It's very likely that you can claim him as your dependent, but simply answering the questions about your dependent in the Personal Inf section will allow TurboTax to determine this for you.

Answers are correct to the best of my ability but do not constitute legal or tax advice.**If this post is helpful please click on "thumbs up"**

1

1krazykrautAuthor

Turbo Tax says: Kyle Make $3,950 or More Last Year which is the only factor that Turbo Tax rejects him as my dependent. If I say he made less than that, then he becomes my dependent. Is this accurate?

Hal_Al

Employee

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and standard ("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, a relationship test and residence test. Only a QC qualifies a taxpayer for the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit. They are interrelated but the rules are different for each.

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 considered third party support and not as support provided by the student.
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.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It actually does not matter who paid the student's tuition. Only the person who claims him (as a dependent) may claim the tuition credit. So, for example, if the parents are divorced and the mother pays the tuition, but the father claims the student, on his taxes; the father is the only one who can claim the tuition credit. The mother cannot claim the credit and the student may not claim the credit.

Another example: the parent pays the tuition, but the student claims himself on his tax return. The parent may not claim the credit. The student can claim the credit (there are some restrictions on students under age 24).

Hal_Al

Employee

It actually does not matter who paid the student's tuition. Only the person who claims him (as a dependent) may claim the tuition credit. So, for example, if the parents are divorced and the mother pays the tuition, but the father claims the student, on his taxes; the father is the only one who can claim the tuition credit. The mother cannot claim the credit and the student may not claim the credit.

Another example: the parent pays the tuition, but the student claims himself on his tax return; the parent may not claim the credit. The student can claim the credit (there are some restrictions on students under age 24).

S

SquirrelyIN

This discussion is ALL about IRS regs. I just want to know how to get TT to let me ENTER the amount of tuition paid. In the Education section it says $0, and that I entered the figure previously.

But I didn't.

How/where can I enter the amount of tuition paid??

Sheesh. Been using TT for years now, but this may be it...

J

JFRAHER

Here's how to edit the 1098-T in TurboTax:

From Deductions & Credits
Expenses and Scholarships (form 1098-T) hit Update
From the page that says Now Let's Gather The Additional Education Expenses
Hit Continue. You will need to continue through several screens until you get to the screen that says Your Education Expenses Summary click Edit
At Here's Your Education Summary you can Edit, Delete or Add New School

R

rshaikh5511

I paid in advance tuition fees for my son spring semester 2020 fees in 2019. Can i qualify to deduct in 2020.

Hal_Al

Employee

Q. I paid in advance tuition fees for my son spring semester 2020 fees in 2019. Can i qualify to deduct in 2020?

A. No. It should have been claimed on your 2019 tax return. It cannot be claimed on your 2020 return, because it wasn't paid in 2020. It's not optional.