Room and board deduction for college paid with a 529

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
June 12, 2019
2 replies
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Paid for college room and board with 529 plan. Do I enter that amount under Education Expenses/Room and Board section

TurboTax Premier Online

Best answer by Hal_Al

Yes. First enter the 1099-Q, under 529 distributions. Then enter educational expenses, at the ed expense section, including room & Board. TurboTax will apply it to the 529 distribution.

To get the screen to enter Room & Board, answer yes when asked if you have book expenses.

If you also intend to claim a tuition credit, see more detail below on how to coordinate the two tax benefits.

Hal_AlAnswer

Employee

Yes. First enter the 1099-Q, under 529 distributions. Then enter educational expenses, at the ed expense section, including room & Board. TurboTax will apply it to the 529 distribution.

To get the screen to enter Room & Board, answer yes when asked if you have book expenses.

If you also intend to claim a tuition credit, see more detail below on how to coordinate the two tax benefits.

lisawolfe

This would be helpful if Turbotax was actually working this way, which it is not (in Home & Business). It's charging us tax on the room & board portion of the 529 distribution. (appears to be a bug, as I've checked everything, and my investment adviser looked at the worksheets and saw that it wasn't accounting for room & board properly)

Carl11_2

Employee

When you have a 1099-Q it is extremely important that you work through the education section of the program in the order it is designed and intended to be used. If you do not, then there is a high probability that you will not be asked for room & board expenses, and you could therefore be TAXED on your 1099-Q funds.