Room & Board Expenses -- where to enter

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
February 9, 2020
3 replies
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Where in TurboTax do I enter the total I paid in 2019 for college room & board for my Daughter #1, if I don’t have a 1098-T for her? I’ve queried this question and seen answers that say you don’t enter room & board payments in TurboTax, but I am seeing otherwise. My Daughter #2 in college received a 1098-T for 2019, and when I entered that info into TurboTax, it also allowed me to enter what I paid for both room & board and books.

However, not the case for Daughter #1. She attended her final college semester in Spring 2019 and then graduated. In 2019, I withdrew funds from her 529 account to pay for room & board and her books. I did not receive a 1098-T for 2019 from her college, because I paid her tuition and fees for her final semester in December of 2018. In the 1098-T section of TurboTax, I entered NO to the question "Did you receive a 1098-T?" The screen that came up next then gave me a place to enter what I paid for her books, but not the room & board.

In an earlier section of TurboTax, I entered the 1099-Q info for both daughters' 529 accounts, showing the total amount of funds for qualified education expenses that I withdrew in 2019. If I cannot enter anywhere in TurboTax the amount I paid for room & board for Daughter #1, won’t TurboTax think I withdrew more money from her 529 than I used to pay for qualified education expenses, and then charge me taxes and a 10% penalty on the earnings portion of the money I withdrew to pay her room & board?

529 Plan

Carl11_2

Employee

When a 1099-Q is involved, it is *imperative* that you work through the education section the way it is designed and intended to be used. If you do not, then chances are "extremely" high that you will not be asked for room and board expenses, meaning that any 1099-Q funds not used for the qualified expenses of tuition, books and lab fees *will* be taxed.

I would suggest you completely delete everything (both students) in the education section and then start that section over from scratch. At this point, jumping around trying to fix things will have the high probability of creating an entirely new problem with the 1098-T. (I am assuming TTX has not yet fixed that bug, since as far as I know we've not yet been able to identify the exact cause.)

fengleAuthor

Carl - Thanks for your input. What exactly is the "bug" you referred to?

I can do what you recommend, but I am pretty sure I filled it out correctly the first time. And which is the part you refer to as the "education section?" Under Deductions & Credits, there's a section titled "ESA and 529 qualified tuition programs (Form 1099-Q)" and a section titled "Expenses and Scholarships (Form 1098-T)." Are you saying redo both of those?

I am kicking myself now for paying her 2019 spring tuition in late 2018. If I had paid it in 2019, I would have a 1098-T and this would all be moot. TurboTax completely shuts me down when I answer that I have no 1098-T for her.

NCPERSON1

yes, you do enter the room and board when it's asked, but the issue is TT uses that information to determine if the earnings on the 1099-Q are taxable or not.

it is NOT an acceptable expense related to the 1098-T.

on the 1099Q, whose name is on the form, THAT's whose tax return the form goes on (it'll be you if you received the money from the administrator, it will be your child, if the administrator was directed to send the money directly to the college or your child)

fengleAuthor

Thanks for your response. I am the owner/recipient of the 529 plans for both my daughters; my daughters are the beneficiaries. So it definitely gets addressed on my taxes.

I am aware that room & board isn't listed on the 1098-T form. But the TurboTax 1098-T section was the only place that, once I entered the data from the 1098-T, then also asked what I paid for room & board. But it only asked for the daughter for whom I have a 1098-T. It didn't ask for the other daughter. When I answered NO to question "do you have a 1098-T for her" it brought up a screen that asked if I was an exception and her school didn't need to issue her a 1098-T. I answered YES to that, thinking that would bring me to a screen where it would ask about room & board, like it did for my other daughter. But it did not ever ask that.

Degrant46

I have a related problem concerning my dependent son's college expenses. After entering the 1099Q distributions, 1098T expenses, and all other qualifying expenses for a 529b, my federal return correctly determined no tax liability from the 529b distribution. However, the Alabama state return appears to treat the 529b distribution as income. Is this a bug in the AL state software?

taxcurious2

The only thing that ever works for me is to go over to the ESA/QTP Wks in Forms. You can get there by pressing the "Open Form" button and start typing E,S,A,...

Part III is a section titled Taxable Earning from Qualified Tuition Program (Section 529 Plan)

Line 2h is editable. It may default to 0, and you can put in your true expenses, or if you have enough expenses you can match the Part III line 1 number which will magically make the Part III line 8 number 0 which amounts to no taxes on the distributions from your QTP. Note: I do this in each of the two columns.

Hal_Al

Employee

To get the screen to enter Room & Board (R&B), first enter the 1099-Q before you enter the 1098-T and expenses (TT must be told you have a 529 distribution or it won't let you enter R&B). In the 1098-T/educational expenses section, answer yes when asked if you have book expenses (R&B will be on the same screen as books).