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February 24, 2021
Question

Should I include my son's 1098T tuition and scholarship statement in my return or in his

  • February 24, 2021
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1 reply

February 24, 2021

It depends.

 

If you claim your son as a dependent, only you can claim his education expenses reported on his form 1098-T.

 

If he is not your dependent, he will claim his own education expenses.

 

It does not matter who actually paid for the expenses.

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Hal_Al
Employee
February 24, 2021

If he is your dependent, you claim the tuition credit or deduction.  So you enter the 1098-T on your return.

 

If part of his scholarship is taxable, he may also need to enter the 1098-T on his return too, maybe (usually) with some adjustment.

__________________________________________________________________________________

There is a tax “loop hole” available. The student reports all his scholarship, up to the amount needed to claim the American Opportunity Credit (AOC), as income on his return. That way, the parents  (or himself, if he is not a dependent) can claim the tuition credit on their return. They can do this because that much tuition was no longer paid by "tax free" scholarship.  You cannot do this if the school’s billing statement specifically shows the scholarships being applied to tuition or if the conditions of the grant are that it be used to pay for qualified expenses.

Using an example: Student has $10,000 in box 5 of the 1098-T and $8000 in box 1. At first glance he/she has $2000 of taxable income and nobody can claim the American opportunity credit. But if she reports $6000 as income on her return, the parents can claim $4000 of qualified expenses on their return.