Fillable Form 1098-T (2020)

What is Form 1098-T?

Form 1098-T is used to help figure education credits for qualified tuition and related expenses paid during the tax year. Specifically, this form provides information regarding students’ tuition expenses at a college or university. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires this information be disclosed to students who pay qualified fees, such as tuition.

Can I fill out Form 1098-T?

If you currently work for an eligible educational institution, then you are able to file this form and send it to both the student in question and the Internal Revenue Service. Eligible educational institutions include colleges, universities, vocational schools, or other postsecondary educational institutions described in section 481 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, and currently qualifies to participate in the Department of Education’s student aids program.

What do I need to fill out Form 1098-T?

As the filer of this form, you will need your full legal name, street address, city or town, country, ZIP or foreign postal code, telephone number, and employee education number.

You are also required to input data regarding the student who will be receiving this specific form. Specifically, you will need to write down the student’s full legal name, TIN, street address, city or town, state or province, country, and ZIP or foreign postal code.

You will also need the amount for payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses, amount for adjustments made for a prior year, monetary value of any scholarships or grants, amount for adjustments made to a scholarship or grant for a prior year, and information regarding whether or not the student receiving this form is at least a half-time student, or a graduate student.

How do I fill out Form 1098-T?

We will be giving you a step-by-step guide on the process of filling out Form 1098-T.

Before attempting to fill out Form 1098-T, ensure that all information that you are about to write down in this form is complete and accurate. As this is a government-issued form, it should be treated with the utmost care and attention.

Form 1098-T may have multiple pages, but each page is simply a copy of the previous page. You will be needing to fill out each page, as they will serve as copies for the IRS, for the student, and for you, the filer, respectively.

As the filer, write down your full legal name in no specific format. Below this, write down your current street address, city or town of residence, state or country of residence, corresponding ZIP code or foreign postal code, and telephone number.

In the two boxes below where you placed your full legal name, write down both your employee identification number and the TIN of the student who will be receiving this form in the box right next to it.

In the larger box beneath the boxes asking for both your employee ID number and the student’s TIN, write down the student’s full legal name in no particular format.

Beneath this, write down the student’s current street address, including his or her apartment number of applicable, their current city or town of residence, state or country, and ZIP or foreign postal code. The address that you write down in this part of the form must be able to receive forwarded mail. If you do not know the permanent address of this student, you may use a temporary address but only in this specific case.

Finally, write down their service provider or account number. The account number is required if you have multiple accounts for a recipient whom you are filing more than one Form 1098-T. Additionally, the IRS recommends that you designate an account number for any and all Forms 1098-T that you file.

Moving to the right-hand side of the page, write down the payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses. Write down as well any adjustments made to this amount for any prior year if applicable. If it turns out that a student’s expenses in the previous year were lower than initially reported, then that could mean the student is responsible for additional tax that year. Note that any amount reported in this box is not reduced by any scholarships or grants reported in a later box.

Afterward, write down the monetary value of any scholarships or grants that the student currently has. Include as well any adjustments made to the value of each scholarship or grant for a prior year. Scholarships and grants are usually given by the school or a third-party and may reduce the amount of qualified expenses the student can use when calculating a credit. A Pell Grant is an example of a grant administered by a college or university in all cases.

The next three items have a box that must be checked. Check the corresponding box if:

• The amounts included in the first box, i.e. the one labeled “Payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses”, includes amounts for an academic period beginning January 2021 - March 2021.
• If the student is at least a half-time student
  • A half-time student is a student enrolled in at least half the full academic workload for the course of study that the student is currently pursuing. Your institution’s standard for a half-time student work load must be equal to or exceed the standards set by the standards set by the Department of Education under the Higher Education Act.
• If the student is a graduate student
  • This is applicable if the student is enrolled in a program or programs leading to a graduate-level degree, graduate-level certificate, or other recognized graduate-level educational credentials.

In the final box, write down the insurance contract reimbursement or refund. If you are an insurer, you must indicate the total amount of reimbursements or refunds that you made to the student during the year.

Repeat the process for each page. As each copy asks the same questions and for the same information, each page should also have exactly the same answers and details.

Once you have completed every single page, congratulations, you have successfully completed Form 1098-T.