Information on the 1098T

Overview of IRS Form 1098-T

Background

Education tax credits or deductions may be available to you if you are paying education costs for yourself or a student who is a member of your immediate family. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1098-T is an informational form which enables you to determine if you qualify for one or more of these education tax credits or deductions.

Howard Community College (HCC) is required to provide a completed IRS Form 1098-T to all students for whom a reportable transaction is made, then to report those students’ enrollment and summary financial data to the IRS. A reportable transaction is defined as tuition and fees a student must pay to be enrolled in a degree seeking program.  HCC is not required to provide Form 1098-T for courses for which no academic credit is offered, even if the student is enrolled in a degree program; nonresident alien students without Social Security Numbers or students whose qualified tuition and related expenses are entirely waived or paid entirely with scholarships or grants.

What is the delivery method of 1098-T Information to Qualified Students?

Howard Community College is pleased to offer access to view and print the 1098-T forms via Self Service. By providing this availability, students and HCC will be working together to support the HCC Green Initiative and provide a more streamlined and convenient way for students to access their important tax information.

Current students who require an additional 1098-T copy can find it by logging into Self Service and navigating to the Student Tax Information menu option. Students are strongly encouraged to utilize Self Service to re-print the 1098-T form.

When will my 1098-T Tax form be mailed to me?

If consent is not granted to receive the statement online via Self Service, a tax form will be placed in the mail. All 1098-T forms issued from Howard Community College will be postmarked no later than January 31.

Why didn’t I receive a 1098-T?

Non-Eligible if:

1. Nonresident Alien Student
   2. The qualified tuition and related expenses are entirely waived or paid entirely with scholarships or grants
   3. There were no qualified payments received during the calendar year.
   4. You do not have a valid permanent address on file with HCC.

Understanding the form

Box 1 – This box contains the reportable transactions paid during the calendar year, between January 1 and December 31. The amount paid is the total amount of payments received for qualified tuition and fee charges from all sources posted to your student account.  For example, if you paid for a credit class before December 31, you will receive a 1098-T displaying those reportable transactions.

Box 2 – This box will remain blank as HCC reports the reportable transactions when paid, see Box 1.

Box 3 – This box will not be checked.

Box 4 – This box contains the total amount of adjustments made for a prior year. This box contains any reductions to reportable transactions made during the reported calendar year that were originally reported and reported during the prior calendar year. This amount is reported as a positive number, however, it is actually a decrease to the amount that was reported on a prior year 1098-T. The amount reported in Box 4 may reduce any allowable education credit you may claim or have claimed. For example, if you paid for spring semester classes in December and dropped from classes in January, Box 4 reports the decrease in paid tuition that was reported in the previous years’ form.

Box 5 – This box contains the total amount of scholarships and grants.  Box 5 does not include scholarships, grants, reimbursements, or other types of sponsorships not administered or processed by HCC. Loans are not included in this amount. Note: The reporting of scholarships and grants on Form 1098-T does not determine the taxability of those payments; it is the student’s responsibility, not HCC’s, to determine the taxability of scholarships, fellowships and/or grants received.

Box 6 – This box contains any reductions in scholarships or grants made during the reported calendar year that were originally reported during the prior calendar year.

Box 7 – This box will be checked if the amount reported in Box 1 includes amounts for an academic period beginning January through March of following calendar year.

Box 8 – This box will be checked if you were at least a half-time student at HCC during any academic period that began in the reported calendar year.

Box 9 – This box will remain blank as HCC does not offer any graduate courses.

Box 10 – This box contains the total amount of reimbursements or refunds of qualified tuition and related expenses made by an insurer.  Example, an insurance policy may reimburse students when they are forced to withdraw from school for medical reasons or family emergencies, after paying nonrefundable tuition.