Thanks for mentioning this! I actually have no idea if my state has any special credits for students. How would I find this out? And yes, my parents are claiming me as a dependent still - what kind of coordination do we need to do? I'm so confused about all of this.

You can find state-specific education credits or deductions by checking your state's tax department website - most have a section specifically about education-related benefits. Just search "[your state] education tax credits" and you should find information. As for coordinating with your parents, since they claim you as a dependent, they're eligible for certain education tax benefits like the American Opportunity Credit or Lifetime Learning Credit. You can't claim these same credits on your return. However, you're still responsible for reporting your taxable scholarship income on your own return. Make sure your parents know about your scholarship situation so they can properly claim any education credits they're entitled to. It's a good idea to compare the tax benefit if they claim the education credits versus if you claim them (if you weren't a dependent) to optimize your family's overall tax situation.

I work in a university financial aid office and this is good advice. We can sometimes adjust how aid is distributed or help students understand how to minimize tax impacts. Just don't wait until the last minute! Come see us early in the year, not at tax time when options are limited.

If you put zeros in Parts 1 and 2, do you need to do any calculations or just literally put 0 in each box? And have you ever been audited or questioned about your Roth withdrawals?

You just put a zero in each box, no calculations needed for parts that don't apply to your situation. It's just to show you didn't accidentally skip that section. I've never been audited specifically about my Roth IRA withdrawals. I did get a general review letter once about three years ago, but it was about something completely different (they questioned some business deductions). My Roth withdrawal reporting with the zeros-not-blanks approach has never been flagged in the 12 years I've been doing it this way.

In my experience, let the software do its thing. TurboTax is programmed to complete forms correctly based on your inputs. If it's filling parts 1 and 2, it's probably putting zeros or calculating something based on your overall tax situation that might be relevant. Tax software is designed to handle these nuances.

I'm not married, so unfortunately that's not an option for me. But that's good advice for others in a similar situation who might be married!

That's unfortunate. Another option to consider for future years is timing your education expenses. If you expect more income next year, you might be able to bunch more expenses into that tax year instead. For instance, paying spring semester tuition in January vs December can shift which tax year it counts for.

Yes! I claimed LLC for coding bootcamp courses last year. The key requirement is that the educational institution needs to be eligible and provide you with a 1098-T. The courses don't need to be part of a degree program for LLC (that's only a requirement for the American Opportunity Credit).

Thank you so much! This breakdown is super helpful. Quick follow-up though - for the actual amount of withholding, should I be using what was initially withheld ($78k) or the net amount after they already got that partial refund through the T2062 process?

You should use the net amount after the partial refund. So if $78k was initially withheld but $22k was already refunded based on the T2062 adjustment, you'd report $56k on line 43700 as the withholding tax amount. The CRA system should already have a record of both the initial withholding and the T2062 adjustment, but I always recommend including a brief note with the return explaining these amounts to avoid any confusion during processing.

For non-residents, you don't need to file a separate provincial tax return. The federal T1-NR handles both federal and provincial taxation. Non-residents pay a flat 25% federal tax on taxable Canadian property, with no separate provincial component. Just make sure you're correctly identifying the property's location on the return since this affects CRA's internal processing, but you won't need to complete any provincial-specific forms for a non-resident property sale.

Thanks so much for this reassurance! I'm still a bit nervous about taking the deduction without photos. For the documentation you mentioned - would a detailed written description with measurements and a hand-drawn floor plan be sufficient? Or should I try to find other proof like emails sent from that workspace?

A detailed written description with measurements and a hand-drawn floor plan is absolutely sufficient documentation. Date it and keep it with your tax records. Including details about the built-in desk, the three walls forming the alcove, and how you used the space for specific business activities strengthens your case. Adding some supporting evidence like business emails, client invoices you created there, or phone records showing client calls would be helpful supplementary documentation, but not strictly necessary. The IRS understands that people move and may not have photographs of previous spaces. Your contemporaneous written records are considered valid documentation, especially when they're detailed and consistent with your business activities.

TurboTax Self-Employed version handles home office deductions pretty well. It walks you through all the questions and helps calculate both the regular and simplified methods. I've used it for the past 3 years with no problems. Just make sure you get the Self-Employed version, not the regular one.