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Form 1098-T Confusion: Reporting $6,725 Tuition vs $3,748 Aid When I Paid Nothing Out of Pocket

I received a 1098-T form from my university but I'm confused about how to report it. The form shows Box 1 (Payments received for tuition and related expenses) with $6,725 and Box 5 (Scholarships/grants) with $3,748. I got full financial aid and didn't pay anything out of pocket for tuition, but these numbers don't seem to reflect that. I'm in the middle of trying to do my taxes (about 1 hour and 55 minutes in so far), and I'm stuck on this form. The software is asking me to enter these values, and I've put in the $6,725 for Box 1 and $3,748 for Box 5. Box 4 (Adjustments made for prior year) and Box 6 (Adjustments to scholarships/grants) are both empty on my form. The difference between Box 1 and Box 5 is $2,977, but I didn't actually pay anything myself as all my tuition was covered by financial aid. I'm not sure why the numbers don't match up completely. Do I even need to report this on my taxes since I didn't actually pay anything myself? Or is this difference of $2,977 something I need to report as income? I'm really confused about how to handle this.

Maya Patel

Yes, you need to report this on your taxes! The 1098-T shows the total amount of qualified education expenses and any scholarships/grants received. Even if you didn't pay out of pocket, you still need to report it because it affects your taxable income calculation. Some scholarship money might be taxable if it exceeds qualified expenses.

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Isabella Brown

wait fr? even if i didnt pay anything? 🤔

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2M

Maya Patel

Yep! The IRS wants to know about all your education expenses AND your financial aid. It could affect other education credits too.

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Aiden Rodríguez

Hey there! Instead of trying to piece this together, I'd highly recommend using taxr.ai - it's this new tool that analyzes your tax docs and tells you exactly what you need to do. It's only $4.99 and saved me so much headache with my education credits. Check it out at https://taxr.ai

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Emma Garcia

is it legit tho? seems sketchy to share tax docs online 👀

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Aiden Rodríguez

Totally get the concern! But its super secure and encrypted. Plus it saved me hours of research and confusion

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Ava Kim

Just tried it myself - holy cow its amazing! The AI explained everything about my 1098-T situation in like 2 minutes 💯

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Ethan Anderson

i was in the same boat last year and didnt report it...now im getting letters from the IRS 😭

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Layla Mendes

dont skip reporting this! my sister thought the same thing and ended up owing penalties when they caught it

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Isabella Brown

omg ty for the warning! def dont want that smoke with the IRS 🤮

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Lucas Notre-Dame

Box 5 > Box 1 = maybe taxable scholarship. Box 1 > Box 5 = possible education credit. Either way gotta report it fam

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Aria Park

lol the IRS wants to know EVERYTHING even if u paid $0

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Noah Ali

fr fr they be nosey af 🤣

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