Why is "double-click to link this 1098-T to the appropriate taxpayer or spouse student information worksheet"? There is no link available & I cannot manually enter info.

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
April 15, 2023
2 replies
0 views

On the 1098-T form, I have two fields highlighted under "Identify Student (required)". The instruction reads to "Double-click to link this 1098-T", but nothing happens when I double-click. There are two fields that are "yellow" next to "A" or "B", however clicking on the does not offer anything and I can not manually type anything into the field.

TurboTax Online

Hal_Al

Employee

Try deleting the 1098-T and starting over.

Don't try to download it. Enter it manually.

mcgratherin-liveAuthor

Thank you for the reply. I re-entered the information, but I do not see a way to delete it.

When you wrote, download it do it manually, how is that accomplished?

Thank you again!!!

Hal_Al

Employee

In TurboTax (TT), enter at:

Federal Taxes Tab (Personal for H&B version)

Deductions & Credits

-Scroll down to:

--Education

--Education Expenses and Scholarships - Click Edit

You get a screen titled "Your Education Expenses Summary". Click delete next to the student's name. You'll then get the "Your Education Expenses Summary" screen again. Click the "Add a student" button.

You'll be asked if you received a 1098-T. Answer yes. Then type in the info from your 1098-T (you enter it manually, by typing in the date).

theraputty

I am having this same problem with entering information for Form 1098-T: Tuition Statement ... a year later. In TurboTax Home & Business desktop version, I have filled out the section correctly (Deductions & Credits > Education > ESA and 529 qualified tuition program (Form 1099-Q)). I have double checked it and have clearly indicated that my son -- and not me or my wife -- is the student ... and it even mentions my son's name in the follow-up screens. However, when I run "Smart Check" I get these two error messages:

-- "1098-T Wks (XX University): A link to the Taxpayer or Spouse Student Worksheet must be made if the student is the taxpayer or spouse, or link to a dependent below if one of them is the student."

-- "1098-T Wks (XX University): A link to a Dependent Worksheet must be made if the student is a dependent, or link to the taxpayer or spouse above if one of them is the student."

I have tried multiple times deleting my son as a dependent AND deleting the 1098-T form -- and re-entering them both. I have also tried closing and restarting TurboTax after I delete both of the forms, thinking this could be a cache issue. Regardless of my troubleshooting, I continue to get this error and my 1098-T does not get filled out correctly for filing purposes.

Please help! Thanks!

Hal_Al

Employee

Entering a 1099-Q and trying to claim a tuition credit can get messy. You may need to use some short cuts.

The 1099-Q and the 1098-T are only informational documents. The numbers on them are not required to be entered onto your (or your student's) tax return. If you claim the tuition credit, you do need to report that you got a 1098-T.

Provide the following info for more specific help:

Are you the student or parent.
Is the student the parent's dependent.
Box 1 of the 1098-T
box 5 of the 1098-T
Any other scholarships not shown in box 5
Does box 5 include any of the 529/ESA plan payments (it should not)
Is any of the Scholarship restricted; i.e. it must be used for tuition
Box 1 of the 1099-Q
Box 2 of the 1099-Q
Who’s name and SS# are on the 1099-Q, parent or student (who’s the “recipient”)?
Room & board paid. If student lives off campus, what is school's R&B on campus charge. If he lives at home, the school’s R&B “allowance for cost of attendance” for student living with parents.
Other qualified expenses not included in box 1 of the 1098-T, e.g. books & computers
How much taxable income does the student have, from what sources
Are you trying to claim the tuition credit (are you eligible)?
Is the student an undergrad or grad student?
Is the student a degree candidate attending school half time or more?

theraputty

Thanks for the reply, Hal. Unfortunately, the issue has nothing to do with the complexity of taking this credit or the information I entered. I discovered it is very clearly a TurboTax software bug as everything is entered correctly and I continue to get this error message when I get to the "Review" stage in TurboTax. The error that TurboTax finds is that the IRS 1098-T Tuition Statement Worksheet requires that you fill in the name of the actual student in the "Identify Student" line -- either you or your child -- and despite what I have correctly entered in TurboTax, TurboTax does fill in the line for my son (or for me!) in the worksheet. I can see that in the actual lRS 1098-T Tuition Statement Worksheet form that's produced when I select PRINT RETURN at the end of the process.

What I later noticed when checking the return via PRINT RETURN is that Turbo Tax had generated three separate lRS 1098-T Tuition Statement Worksheets, when only one is required. One version of the Worksheet correctly filled in the "Identify Student" line as my son. The other two versions left that line item blank. So this is the error that TurboTax caught -- an error TurboTax created by somehow generating two extra, unnecessary copies of the 1098-T Tuition Statement Worksheets.

I checked my entries again in TurboTax and there was nowhere that I could have entered this information multiple times. The only thing I can think of is that I could have edited the entries at various times ... but that shouldn't have caused TurboTax to generate multiple versions.

SO, since there's no way Intuit will discover and fix this bug in time for me to get my taxes filed, I started a brand new tax return and spent hours re-entering and checking all my information. And voila, my return no longer includes three versions of the 1098-T Tuition Statement Worksheet and I am no longer receiving this error.

Note to Intuit: please fix your bugs.