Claiming rent as expense for summer internship

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
February 16, 2025
2 replies
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Greetings, This past summer my college son did summer internship for 2.5 months out of state. He received 1099 NEC. He rented apartment that costed $4500 for the duration of the internship. He also had to buy flight tickets. Can he claim any of these expenses in federal taxes?

xmasbaby0

Employee

Sorry....no. Travel is not a qualified education expense, nor is the rent.

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

vvk4Author

To clarify the Summer internship was "Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship" -

KrisD15

None of the expenses qualify as education expenses, however if the payment was made on Form 1099-NEC, they are treating the student as a self-employed subcontractor. (Normally Fellowships are reported on a W-2 or possible 1099-MISC.)

Since the payment is on Form 1099-NEC, the student will need to report that as Self-Employment income.

This will require Schedule C be included with his return.

With this said, he will be able to deduct business expenses that are necessary and reasonable.

If there is self-employment income, there will also be Self-Employment tax on that income which is the FICA an employer usually handles.

HERE is an IRS link to help you decide which expenses can be claimed.

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