1098T Faq

Form 1098-T is a statement that colleges and universities are required to issue to certain students. It provides the total dollar amount paid by the student for what is referred to as qualified tuition and related expenses (or “QTRE”) in a single tax year.

Descriptions of Boxes on Form 1098-T

• Box 1 (“Payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses”) of your 1098-T displays the net amount of payments posted to your account and applied to eligible charges during the tax year (January – December) that were required as a condition of your enrollment and attendance. To “qualify,” payments must relate to an academic period for which fees are due and payable during the tax year and for which instruction begins no later than March of the following tax year.
• Box 2 is blank because MSU reports “Payments received” instead. The IRS provides the option for schools to report either “Payments received” in Box 1 or “Amounts billed” in Box 2, but not both.
• Box 3 is blank because MSU has not changed its reporting method from a previous tax year and continues to report “Payments received,” not “Amounts billed.”
• Box 4 (“Adjustments made for a prior year”) shows any refunds during the current year for payments of “qualified tuition and related expenses” reported on a 1098-T for a prior tax year. For example, if you paid Spring 2022 registration fees in December 2021, “qualified tuition” for that quarter would have been reported on your 1098-T for 2021. If you subsequently received a refund of Spring 2022 registration fees in January 2022, the refund would be reported in Box 4 for tax year 2022. Refunds may result from changing from full-time to part-time study, nonresident to resident classification, or cancellation/withdrawal.
• Box 5 (“Scholarships or grants”) reflects financial aid, scholarships, and third-party sponsorships made to the student during the tax year.
• Box 6 (“Adjustments to Scholarships or grants for a prior year”) shows an amount if “scholarships or grants” that were reported on a 1098-T for a prior year were subsequently reduced in the current tax year.
• Box 7, if checked, indicates that “payments received” in Box 1 include payments for terms that start in the first three months of 2022 (i.e., Winter or Spring).
• Box 8, if checked, indicates that you were considered to be “enrolled at least half-time” for one or more quarters during the tax year.
• Box 9, if checked, indicates that you were enrolled in a graduate program for one or more quarters during the tax year. The University checks this box if you attended as a graduate student for any quarter of your enrollment during the tax year.
• Box 10 (“Ins. Contract reimb./refund”) is blank because MSU is not an insurer.
  Service Provider/Acct. No. This field contains the MSU student identification number.

For students who consented to receive their 1098-T Tax Form electronically, your form will be available on or before January 31 through MyMSU> Self Service>Tax Information>1098 Information. For those who withhold consent or do not elect to receive electronically, your 1098-T Tax Form will be mailed by January 31 to your home address on file.

There are potentially many reasons for this discrepancy. First, the amount in Box 1 only represents amounts paid for qualified tuition and related expenses (QTRE) and does not include payments made for room and board, insurance, health service fees, or parking, which, though important, are not considered mandatory education expenses for tax purposes. Secondly, Form 1098-T reports the amount that the student paid in a certain year, and the pay date does not necessarily correspond to the dates that the classes were attended. For example, tuition for the Spring semester is typically billed in November, so a student may have paid tuition for the Spring semester in the prior year even though classes didn’t start until January of the current tax year.

No, the University does not include amounts paid for books in Box 2 of Form 1098-T. You should consult with your tax advisor to determine if payments for books, equipment, or fees should be considered when preparing your income tax returns and determining eligibility for education tax credits or deductions.

Typically, charges are posted to your student account in November for the Spring semester and in June for the Fall semester. Box 1 of Form 1098-T reflects payments made during the calendar year for qualified tuition and related expenses, and it is not based on when the classes were attended or billed to the student account.

Yes, Direct Loans and Perkins Loans used to pay qualified educational charges were considered the same as cash payments when generating your Form 1098-T.

The IRS requires higher education institutions to report total qualified tuition and related expenses (QTRE), including QTRE, paid with emergency financial aid grant funds, in Box 1 but not in Box 5 of Form 1098-T. If you granted permission to have the emergency financial aid grants apply to qualified charges, then it will be reported in Box 1. If the emergency financial aid grants were refunded to you, it would not be reported in Box 1 nor Box 5 of Form 1098-T. Refer to the IRS Higher Education Emergency Grants FAQs for more information.

The University is not required, by the IRS, to furnish a Form 1098-T in the following instances:

• Payments for courses for which no academic credit is offered, even if the student is otherwise enrolled in a degree program.
• An enrolled student is a nonresident alien unless requested by the student.
• Students whose qualified tuition and related expenses are waived or paid with grants/scholarships.
• Students for whom you do not maintain a separate financial account and whose qualified tuition and related expenses are covered by a formal billing arrangement between an institution and the student's employer or a governmental entity, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense.

In previous years, Form 1098-T included a dollar amount in Box 2 that represented the qualified tuition and related expenses (QTRE) the University billed to your student account for the calendar (tax) year. Due to a change to institutional reporting requirements under federal law, beginning with the tax year 2018, the University must report in Box 1 the amount of QTRE you paid during the year.

Please contact the IT Help Desk at 606-783-4357 (HELP) or email ithelpdesk@moreheadstate.edu.

We are unable to provide tax advice. For guidance, you may want to consider IRS Publication - Tax Benefits for Education in addition to choosing a tax professional.

For more information regarding the American Opportunity Credit and Lifetime Learning Credit, you may visit the following websites:

• IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education: About Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)
• Form 8863- Education Credits (American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning Credits)
• Tax Benefits for Education: Information Center
• Form W-9: Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification