Filling Out Education Tax Forms

Entering 1098-T and Education Expenses 

Our Education screen is the place you'll enter information to claim the American Opportunity Credit or the Lifetime Learning Credit. For each student, though, you have to choose just one of the credits. (We cover the choices more thoroughly in Education Credits.) 

After you enter all your information, our screen will suggest the one that helps you the most. 

Getting Started 

Let’s walk through how to complete this screen. 

Education tax breaks are student-specific, so first, select the appropriate student. If the student is not available in the list, that means the student has not yet been added as a dependent on your return. So, for a child, you must complete the Dependent screen. 

Next are questions that determine which credit you can claim. Additional questions may appear, depending on your answers. 

School Information 

Provide information from your school, which you can find on Form 1098-T from the school. Provide information about each school the student attended. If the student attended three separate colleges during the year (and claimed expenses from all of them), complete a screen section for all three. If you have to add another college, click the I have additional institutions to add link. 

Under the optional state section, there's also a check box to denote that all the expenses entered are for an undergraduate degree only. This is necessary on some state returns but is not needed on federal tax returns. 

There are also a few advanced options some taxpayers may find useful. One is to denote that the taxpayer is the dependent of another, but that person is not claiming either the exemption or the education credit. If that applies to you, selecting this box could let you still claim a credit, provided you qualify otherwise. 

What About Student Loan Interest? 

That goes on our Student Loan Adjustment screen. Our tax return interview will help you complete the right screens. 

Also see: 
How to Deduct Student Loan Interest