Room and Board Taxable if Required?

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
July 9, 2020
2 replies
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My daughter received a scholarship that included room and board. However, the terms of the scholarship required her to stay on campus. $2500 of the $7500 scholarship was allocated toward her fulfilling that on campus requirement. Would she have to file the $2500 as income and pay taxes on that amount of the scholarship if staying on campus was a stipulation?

TurboTax Home & Biz Windows

macuser_22

Employee

Yes. Room and board is a non-deductible living expense. Nobody can deduct living expenses.

Any scholarship that exceeds the amount of tuition is taxable income.

**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**

Hal_Al

Employee

Q. Would she have to file the $2500 as income and pay taxes on that amount of the scholarship if staying on campus was a stipulation?

A. Yes. A mandatory living on campus stipulation does not change the fact that Room & board (R&B) are non qualified educational expenses. Any scholarship money used to pay R&B is still taxable.