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June 7, 2019
Question

Where do I enter scholarship income?

  • June 7, 2019
  • 6 replies
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I received a taxable scholarship that does not have a W-2. Where do I input the income for this award?

6 replies

Employee
June 7, 2019

If your taxable scholarship amount was not reported on a Form 1098-T, you can see the steps for entering the scholarship amount into TurboTax is as follows:

  • Log in to your TurboTax Online account, or open your TurboTax CD/Download program
  • Choose Take me to my return
  • Click on Federal Taxes
  • Click on Wages & Income
  • Locate Less Common Income and click Show more
  • Locate and click to Start next to Miscellaneous Income, 1099-A, 1099-C
  • Answer Yes to Did you receive any other wages?
  • On the following screen you will locate Other reportable income and click Start
  • Then you will enter SCH in the description box and the amount
  • Click Done
June 7, 2019
I almost did this, but I am not convinced it is the best way to do it. IRS publications like Pub 525 pretty clearly say to put taxable scholarships on line 7 of the 1040, labeling with SCH next to the taxable scholarship income. Answering the TurboTax questions about educational expenses and scholarships automatically did put our excess scholarship income as taxable income on line 7, as the IRS instructions say to do, even without a 1098-T. However, if I follow the above directions this SCH income ends up on line 21, and it feels like some kind of workaround from how TurboTax is set up to work. I'm not sure it would be "wrong" (legally/ethically) to put it on line 21 and not line 7, but why not put it on line 7 like the IRS says and like TurboTax is set up to do? I also felt like it worked out better for us tax-wise to put it on line 7, though perhaps I'm confused and there wasn't a difference.
February 8, 2020

TurboTax did it for me when I was on my daughters return: 

1. For the section: Education - Scholarships, student loans, tuition (1098-E and 1098-T)

--Go to Expenses and Scholarships (Form 1098-T) to enter your 1098T information.

--For question: "Did You Pay for Room and Board with a Scholarship or Grant?" -  I answered "Yes" then entered the amount  (in my case this was simply Box 5 minus Box 1 on the 1098T)  in the field for "Total Used." **Only this section was needed for my tax situation; be sure to enter amounts, for the other questions re:scholarships/grants , that are specific to your tax needs.**

--Answer all other questions as appropriate to complete the section.

 

2. Expand the "Tax Tools" options located in the toolbar to the left (where  you see Tax Home, etc).

3. Click "Tools" (a "Tool Center" window opens).

4.  Under "Other helpful links", select "View Tax Summary".

5. The "Review Tax Summary" Opens.

6. In the left toolbar, you should see "Preview my 1040" - click to open.

7. You should now see the "Federal 1040" form.

8. Scroll down in the form and stop at: "Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR, Lines 1 - 6"

9. Line 1 Wages, salaries, tips, etc. Attach Form(s) W-2 should include an amount with "SCH" next to it.

 

 

VolvoGirl
Employee
June 7, 2019
June 7, 2019
  1. Open (continue) your return, if you're not already in it.
  2. In TurboTax, search for 1098T (lower-case works also) and then click or tap the "Jump to" link in the search results.
  3. Answer any education questions that pop up (enrollment status, name of school, and so forth).
    • If you land on the Education Expenses Summary screen, click or tap Edit next to the student in question, then edit the Tuition item.
  4. At the Did you get a 1098-T? screen, answer Yes and continue.

After you enter your 1098-T, we'll ask about other expenses (books, supplies, equipment) and financial aid.


June 7, 2019
The correct place to enter it, per IRS, and per prompts in TurboTax (If your lucky to hit the prompt), is in the Wages, Salaries, & Tips Worksheet. You will need to locate that worksheet in the forms area in TurboTax. Enter it in the Scholarship line. Line 13. The system will then automatically put in on 1040 line 7, and add SCH as the prefix. It seems that TT does not have the option to enter it in via the step-by-step area.
VolvoGirl
Employee
June 7, 2019
It should be here,
Enter a 1098-T under
Federal Taxes
Deductions and Credits
Scroll down to Education
Education Expenses - Click the Start or Update button
February 8, 2020

TurboTax did it for me when I was on my daughters return: 

1. For the section: Education - Scholarships, student loans, tuition (1098-E and 1098-T)

--Go to Expenses and Scholarships (Form 1098-T) to enter your 1098T information.

--For question: "Did You Pay for Room and Board with a Scholarship or Grant?" -  I answered "Yes" then entered the amount  (in my case this was simply Box 5 minus Box 1 on the 1098T)  in the field for "Total Used." **Only this section was needed for my tax situation; be sure to enter amounts, for the other questions re:scholarships/grants , that are specific to your tax needs.**

--Answer all other questions as appropriate to complete the section.

 

2. Expand the "Tax Tools" options located in the toolbar to the left (where  you see Tax Home, etc).

3. Click "Tools" (a "Tool Center" window opens).

4.  Under "Other helpful links", select "View Tax Summary".

5. The "Review Tax Summary" Opens.

6. In the left toolbar, you should see "Preview my 1040" - click to open.

7. You should now see the "Federal 1040" form.

8. Scroll down in the form and stop at: "Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR, Lines 1 - 6"

9. Line 1 Wages, salaries, tips, etc. Attach Form(s) W-2 should include an amount with "SCH" next to it.

 

 

February 8, 2020

TurboTax did it for me when I was on my daughters return: 

1. For the section: Education - Scholarships, student loans, tuition (1098-E and 1098-T)

--Go to Expenses and Scholarships (Form 1098-T) to enter your 1098T information.

--For question: "Did You Pay for Room and Board with a Scholarship or Grant?" -  I answered "Yes" then entered the amount  (in my case this was simply Box 5 minus Box 1 on the 1098T)  in the field for "Total Used." **Only this section was needed for my tax situation; be sure to enter amounts, for the other questions re:scholarships/grants , that are specific to your tax needs.**

--Answer all other questions as appropriate to complete the section.

 

2. Expand the "Tax Tools" options located in the toolbar to the left (where  you see Tax Home, etc).

3. Click "Tools" (a "Tool Center" window opens).

4.  Under "Other helpful links", select "View Tax Summary".

5. The "Review Tax Summary" Opens.

6. In the left toolbar, you should see "Preview my 1040" - click to open.

7. You should now see the "Federal 1040" form.

8. Scroll down in the form and stop at: "Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR, Lines 1 - 6"

9. Line 1 Wages, salaries, tips, etc. Attach Form(s) W-2 should include an amount with "SCH" next to it.

February 20, 2020

did your daughter have work income too?  or file her own return?

February 22, 2020

Yes - She had income from Work Study for which she received a W-2, since these earnings are not included on her 1098-T.

 

Yes - She filed her own return - I put the numbers in TurboTax to see how it looks, but her boyfriend temps for Jackson Hewitt during tax season, so I let him submit her return since he gets a free code for one friend/family, and it helps with his metrics.

 

I did remind him that she was a dependent and to report the same amount, in excess of qualified education expenses, as taxable income with the "SCH" designation as I did; as I know their system is different from TurboTax.

 

Outcome: per her boyfriend, her federal return was not impacted. Even with the SCH amounts,  her total income was under the standard deduction and she is due a refund-- equal to the amount of federal income tax that was withheld. 

 

It did, though, impact her state return. He said NC's standard deduction is lower, and her taxable income exceeded the amount. So she owes the state, but it's not a lot, and she can easily cover the balance from her federal refund.