I was wondering if I pay for summer tuition out of pocket will I be eligible for a 1098-T the next year(2019) if my balance was more than my left over FA refund? Last year 2017, I paid $2,100 in summer tuition out of pocket and I thought I was going to receive a 1098 for this tax season, but i was told by my Financial Service office that my leftover FA refund was enough to cover my summer tuition. I asked if I go this year and take summer classes again will i get a 1098 the next year(2019) if my tuition exceeds the amount that i have leftover of my tuition or will it not matter at all, but they had no answer. Anyone with a similar experience or knows anything, please let me know I’d greatly appreciate it!
See thats what I think too but they told me that whatever I have left over from my FA refund, it can cover anything school related even if its tuition. Since my FA was more than enough to cover my summer tuition, i am not able to qualify for a 1098-T.
Why did you pay $2,100 in summer tuition out of pocket last year if there was a leftover FA refund that covered that whole amount (I assume you got the $2,100 back?), and if FA is paying all your qualified expenses, why is it necessary to have a 1098-T?
Ok so for Spring of 2017 I received a total of $5200 of FA in grants and scholarships. My tuition for Spring 17’ got paid for which was about $3,000. So I had $2,200 leftover from that FA. However, that money was from the beginning of the semester and I have to use it for my own expenses and school materials. So when summer time came around I technically didnt have that money anymore when paying for summer tuition because my school doesn’t give extra money for summer school. So i had to pay that out of my own pocket, but according to my school’s financial service office, they said that the $2,200 I had leftover was enough to cover my summer tuition expense. I didnt know it worked that way because its not like im going to save that money till the summer comes and then use it you know? We all have personal expenses to take care so the money didnt last. Last summer 17’ I took 2 classes at my university and I also took another 2 classes at 2 different community colleges. I received 1098s for the 2 community college schools but not for my own school where i paid the $2,100. Thats why I was wondering if I am suppose to get a 1098-T from my school, but I guess not? Not too sure.
You do not need the 1098-T to file taxes. You can use your own records of what you paid and what you received.
Your school adds up all the FA you received for the year and all the QEE it charged you and issues the 1098-T if the charges were larger than the aid. It doesn’t consider the tuition you paid to other schools. Add up all the tuition you paid to all schools, plus books. Add up all the aid you received (exclude loans). Those are your numbers for taxes.
You can ask the school to issue a 1098T. If FA for the year exceeded qualified tuition and fees for the year, the school is not required to issue a 1098T for 2017.
If you have financial aid like the Pell grant and since it is allowed to be used for living expenses, you could include some of the Pell grant as taxable income on your return, in order to claim the AOTC.
In your example you said that you spent the $2,200 financial aid refund from first semester on living expenses. So you could allocate that $2,200 to non-qualified education expenses, it will then become taxable income and you might then have qualified education expenses of $2,200 left to claim for AOTC.