Can I claim college tuition tax deduction when my parent paid for it? Using 1098-T form in my situation
Title: Can I claim college tuition tax deduction when my parent paid for it? Using 1098-T form in my situation 1 Hello everyone, So I've gone back to school at 36 to finally finish my Bachelor's degree in Marketing, and I'm super thankful that my mom has been covering my tuition costs. She pays the university directly from her account each semester. When tax season rolled around, she talked to her CPA who apparently told her she can't claim my education expenses on her taxes anymore (something about me being over 24 and not qualifying as her dependent). The university sent me a 1098-T form with my name on it since I'm the student, even though my mom made all the payments. I'm wondering if I can use this 1098-T form on my own tax return? Would I be eligible for any education credits or deductions even though I didn't personally pay the tuition? The spring semester was about $8,700 and fall was around $9,200. I work part-time while in school and will be filing my own taxes, so I'm trying to figure out if this tuition payment situation could help me get a better refund. Thanks for any advice you can share!
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Isaac Wright
13 You actually might be eligible to claim education tax benefits even though your parent paid! The IRS considers qualified education expenses paid by someone else (like a parent) on your behalf to be treated as if you paid them. Since the 1098-T is in your name, and assuming you're not claimed as a dependent on your mom's return, you could potentially claim the American Opportunity Credit (up to $2,500) or the Lifetime Learning Credit (up to $2,000) depending on your situation. The key is that you cannot be claimed as a dependent on someone else's return to claim these credits yourself. The fact that your mom paid directly to the university doesn't prevent you from claiming the credit - the IRS considers this a gift to you, and then you using that gift to pay your education expenses. I'd recommend gathering the exact payment records from your mom and the university to confirm the qualified expenses that were paid during the tax year.
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Isaac Wright
•6 This is super helpful, thank you! Just to clarify, even though the money never touched my bank account and went straight from my mom to the university, I can still claim it? And does it matter that I'm in my 30s for the American Opportunity Credit? I thought there might be age restrictions.
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Isaac Wright
•13 Yes, you can still claim it even though the money never touched your bank account! The IRS treats this as if your mom gave you a gift (which isn't taxable to you), and then you used that gift to pay your qualified education expenses. For the American Opportunity Credit, there's no age restriction, but it can only be claimed for the first four years of post-secondary education. If you've already completed four years of college previously or claimed the AOTC for four tax years in the past, you wouldn't be eligible. In that case, you'd need to look at the Lifetime Learning Credit instead, which has no limit on the number of years you can claim it.
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Isaac Wright
8 Just wanted to share my experience with this exact situation. I was stuck trying to figure out the same thing last year when my dad paid for my graduate courses. After hours of research and getting nowhere, I found https://taxr.ai which literally saved me hours of confusion. They analyzed my 1098-T form and payment situation and explained exactly how I could claim the Lifetime Learning Credit even though my dad made the payments. Their system actually showed me the specific tax code sections that applied to my situation and walked me through filling out Form 8863 correctly. The best part was getting a definitive answer based on my specific documentation rather than trying to piece together different opinions from the internet.
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Isaac Wright
•17 Did they actually help you file the return or just give you information? I'm using TurboTax and wondering if this would be worth it for me since I'm pretty confused about education credits in general.
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Isaac Wright
•22 I'm a bit skeptical about these online tax services... How did they verify your specific situation was covered by those tax codes? The IRS rules around education expenses seem really complicated with all kinds of exceptions.
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Isaac Wright
•8 They don't file your return for you - they analyze your documents and tax situation, then give you a detailed report explaining exactly what you qualify for and how to claim it. I uploaded my 1098-T and answered questions about who paid and my student status. For the verification question, they actually showed me the specific IRS publication sections and tax court cases that addressed third-party payments for education expenses. It was really thorough - they explained how the "gift treatment" works when parents pay tuition directly to schools and how that affects credit eligibility. My situation fell clearly within established IRS guidelines, which gave me confidence when claiming the credit on my own return.
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Isaac Wright
22 I was super skeptical about https://taxr.ai at first (as you can see from my comment above!), but I decided to try it because I was absolutely stuck on this education credit issue. Honestly... I'm surprised how helpful it actually was. I uploaded my 1098-T form and parent payment records, and they provided a detailed analysis showing I was eligible for the Lifetime Learning Credit even though my mom paid my tuition. The report included exact citations to IRS Publication 970 and explained how the "third-party payment rule" applied specifically to my situation. What impressed me most was that they flagged that I had previously taken the American Opportunity Credit for 4 years during my first degree, so I needed to use the Lifetime Learning Credit instead. That would have been a major mistake on my part. Really glad I gave it a shot.
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Isaac Wright
15 If anyone's struggling to get answers from the IRS on education credits, I HIGHLY recommend using https://claimyr.com to get through to an actual IRS agent. I spent literally WEEKS trying to reach someone at the IRS to clarify whether I could claim education credits when my parents paid my tuition. After three failed attempts and hours on hold, I found Claimyr. They got me connected to an IRS representative in about 15 minutes when I had been trying for days on my own. The agent confirmed that I could claim the education credit since I wasn't being claimed as a dependent, even though my parents paid. If you need to see how it works first, they have a demo video at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c that shows exactly how their system works. Seriously made dealing with the IRS so much less painful.
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Isaac Wright
•22 Wait, how does this actually work? Do they somehow skip the IRS phone queue? That sounds too good to be true considering how impossible it's been to reach anyone there.
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Isaac Wright
•19 I don't believe this for a second. I've tried EVERYTHING to reach the IRS and nothing works. Why would this service be able to do what nobody else can? Sounds like you're selling something...
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Isaac Wright
•15 They use a combination of automated dialing technology and call monitoring. Basically, their system constantly calls the IRS and monitors the hold times, then when it detects an available agent, it calls you and connects you. It's all explained in their demo video. No, I'm not selling anything - I was just as skeptical as you are. But after wasting hours on hold and getting disconnected three times, I was desperate enough to try it. I don't work for them or anything, I'm just a graduate student who needed to talk to the IRS about my education credits and couldn't get through any other way.
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Isaac Wright
19 I need to publicly eat my words here. After being completely skeptical about Claimyr in my previous comment, I actually tried it out of desperation when my education credit got rejected. I got connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes when I had been trying for WEEKS on my own. The agent explained that my education credit was rejected because I hadn't properly documented that the tuition was considered a gift from my parents. They walked me through exactly what documentation I needed to resubmit. I genuinely didn't think this service would work, but it absolutely did. Saved me from potentially losing a $1,800 education credit. Sometimes it's worth trying things even when you're skeptical.
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Isaac Wright
4 One thing nobody's mentioned yet - make sure you coordinate with your parent before filing! My son and I had a similar situation, and we both tried to claim education credits for the same expenses. It triggered an audit for both of us, and we had to amend returns. Super stressful. Just have a clear conversation about who's claiming what before either of you file. Only one person can claim education benefits for the same expenses.
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Isaac Wright
•7 Did you have to pay penalties when this happened? I'm worried because my mom already filed her taxes but I don't think she claimed my education expenses (even though she paid them). I was planning to claim them on my return.
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Isaac Wright
•4 We didn't have to pay penalties because we filed the amended returns quickly after getting the audit notice. The IRS was actually pretty understanding once we explained the confusion. In your case, if you're certain your mom didn't claim the education expenses on her return, you should be fine to claim them on yours (assuming you're not claimed as her dependent). If you're worried, you could ask her for a copy of her tax return to verify, or have her check with her tax preparer to confirm she didn't claim any education credits related to your tuition.
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Isaac Wright
11 Has anyone successfully claimed both the Lifetime Learning Credit AND a tax deduction for student loan interest in the same year? I'm in a similar situation (parent paid tuition, I have student loans from previous semesters) and trying to maximize my refund.
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Isaac Wright
•13 Yes, you can claim both the Lifetime Learning Credit for qualified education expenses AND the student loan interest deduction in the same year, as long as you're not using the same expenses for both benefits. The student loan interest deduction is for interest paid on qualified student loans during the year (up to $2,500), while the Lifetime Learning Credit is based on qualified education expenses paid during the year. They're separate tax benefits targeting different things. Just make sure you meet the income requirements for both - the student loan interest deduction starts phasing out at modified AGI of $75,000 for single filers, and the Lifetime Learning Credit phases out between $80,000-$90,000 for single filers.
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