How do I report 529 plan withdrawals on my son's tax return as the beneficiary?

Yes, your son can report the 1099-Q on his own tax return even though the withdrawals were made in your name. The important thing is that he's the designated beneficiary and the funds were used for his qualified education expenses. The 1099-Q doesn't actually need to be "reported" in the traditional sense. If all the distributions were used for qualified education expenses, there's nothing to include as taxable income. The 1099-Q is mainly for record-keeping purposes to show that the funds were used appropriately. For your son to claim education credits like the American Opportunity Credit or Lifetime Learning Credit, he would need to file his own return and not be claimed as your dependent. He would also need to have paid qualified education expenses, which can include expenses paid from a 529 plan where he's the beneficiary.

After struggling with this exact situation, I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it made this whole process so much easier. My daughter was in college and I had the same question about the 529 distributions in my name but wanted her to claim education credits. The tool analyzed my 1099-Q forms, walked me through exactly which expenses qualified, and showed how my daughter could claim the education credits on her return even though I owned the 529 account. They even explained the documentation we should keep in case of an audit. Saved me a lot of confusion over who reports what!

Update on my question about taxr.ai - I decided to try it out after all, and I'm actually really impressed! My situation was complicated because I had two kids in college, one using a 529 plan and one with scholarships. The tool caught something I would have missed - that my son could claim the Lifetime Learning Credit even though I paid his tuition from my 529 plan. It also created a documentation package showing exactly which expenses were qualified and which weren't, with references to the specific IRS rules. Way more helpful than just reading through Publication 970 on my own and trying to figure it out. Definitely recommend it for anyone dealing with education expenses.

If you're having trouble getting answers from the IRS about 529 plans and education credits, try Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I spent weeks trying to get through to the IRS about this exact situation - my son needed to claim education credits but the 529 was in my name. I was skeptical at first, but after watching their demo video (https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c), I decided to give it a shot. Within 15 minutes of using their service, I was talking to an actual IRS agent who explained exactly how to handle the 1099-Q reporting and confirmed that my son could claim the education credits as long as he wasn't my dependent.

I have to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I decided to try it myself since I was desperate to talk to someone about my daughter's education credits and 529 withdrawals. I couldn't believe it, but they actually got me through to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes! The agent confirmed that my daughter could claim her own education credits even though the 529 was in my name, as long as she wasn't my dependent and the expenses were for her education. Saved me hours of frustration and gave me confidence that we're handling the tax situation correctly. Sometimes it's worth admitting when you're wrong about something!

Something else to consider - if your son starts claiming himself, make sure you're not providing more than half his support for the year or you might not be able to let him claim himself. The IRS has specific tests for who can be claimed as a dependent. Also, when my daughter started claiming herself, we had to be careful about coordination. Since I owned the 529, but she claimed the expenses, we kept extra documentation showing who paid what just in case of questions.

Has anyone had experience with changing the account owner on a 529 plan? I'm thinking about making my son the owner of his 529 to simplify this whole process for future years.

Just went through this exact situation last year with my daughter! The key thing to remember is that even though you own the 529 account and receive the 1099-Q, your son can absolutely claim the education credits on his own return as long as he's not your dependent. Here's what we learned: The 1099-Q itself doesn't need to be "reported" as income if all the distributions went toward qualified education expenses. Your son would claim the American Opportunity Tax Credit or Lifetime Learning Credit based on the actual tuition and fees paid, regardless of the funding source. One important note - make sure to run the numbers both ways before deciding. Sometimes parents in higher income brackets actually benefit more from claiming the dependent exemption than the student gains from the education credits, especially if the student has little other income. But if you're phased out of the education credits due to income limits, then having your son claim himself usually makes more sense. Also keep good records showing the 529 distributions matched up with qualified expenses, just in case the IRS has questions later. The account ownership doesn't matter for tax purposes - what matters is who the beneficiary is and whose education expenses were paid.