How to report Resident Advisor income?

Paying for College
1

<p>Greetings,
I’m about to wade in again with taxes with the (fortunate) situation of having more scholarships than costs. This year there is a twist. Son is a part time resident advisor in his dorm, the college gives him $1000 credit on his bill for this service. This $1k doesn’t appear on his W-2 from the college (he also is a tutor). It cannot account for this $1k on his 1098-T either. Is this taxable? Obviously this is conditional money since he has to live there to get paid. How does it get reported on a tax form/FAFSA? Any insight is appreciated!</p>

2

<p>Wow. My D is an RA getting $2500 cash per semester! Minimal hours required to boot! If the college doesn’t report it, I wouldn’t worry about it. It lowers your cost of attendance by $1000, but if you still had to pay for him to attend school, I don’t think it’s going to affect you at all.</p>

3

<p>It is taxable. If it’s not reported on the W-2, then he should report it in the “other income” section of the tax form.</p>

4

<p>Helpful but I’m rather surprised that it is taxable income.</p>

5

<p>Should this be reported on a 1099 and then taxed as self-employment?</p>

6

<p>To qualify as “self-employed” the worker has to set their wage and hours. I doubt the student was able to set his wage, or exactly what hours/how many hours he was willing to work. Self-employed is also supposed to mean you are in charge of your work for the most part. If the student is “self employed” then, would he take his dorm room as a deduction as his office, and deduct “expenses” for that job?</p>

7

<p>I think he should check with the appropriate office at the school as I’m sure they’ve fielded this question before! I’m not a tax expert, but am thinking this may fall under the meals & lodging rule and could be non-taxable as a condition of employment. Check IRS Pub 525 for info on what is included.</p>

8

<p>Thanks everyone, especially sk8rmom. Your comments have helped make for some happy faces reaching the end of the 1040 season.</p>

9

<p>My humble opinion is that it’s not taxable. It’s not income to the student, it’s a discount on his bill.</p>

10

<p>Posting for future reference, with thanks to sk8rmom:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p525.pdf[/url]”>http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p525.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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