Level 5

Taxable Scholarships

Forum|Forum|3 months ago
March 14, 2026
3 replies
11 views

Parent has two dependents in college.

1- Son has 1098-T with 50,000 tuition and 60,000 scholarships. He used the excess for room and board.

Does the son include this all on his return if parent doesn't claim him and declares the 10,000 as income?

He has no other income.

2- Daughter has 1098-T for senior spring with $0 as tuition and $10000 as scholarship. $6000 was billed in 2024 for the 2025 year.

Should the parent let her claim self and let her put on her return? Looks like $4000 will be taxable to her with excess scholarship.

She has very $20000 of wages.

Thank you very much

sjrcpa

Level 15

If a parent is eligible to claim a child as a dependent, the child does not get to claim themselves even if the parent chooses not to claim them as a dependent.

The more I know the more I don’t know.

T

TaxGuyBill

Level 15

1) The son puts the taxable scholarships on his tax return. But his income is below the threshold so he is not required to file.

Why is the parent not claiming him as a dependent? Is the parent ELIGIBLE to claim the child as a dependent? If the student had qualifying tuition, would the parent be able to qualify (such as their income) for the American Opportunity Credit? Any chance the some of the scholarships are Pell Grants (or other scholarships that are not restricted to only tuition)?

2) Was the $6000 paid in 2024? Or was it paid in 2025? You may need to get the printout from the college that shows the 'financial account' of the student that itemizes all payments and expenses.

A parent can not 'let' a child to 'claim themself'. If the child is ABLE to be claimed as a dependent, the child needs to indicate that on the tax return. There are certain situations that if the parent chooses not to claim the child, the child may be able to get limited tax credits for education.

Is the parent ABLE to claim the child as a dependent? If the student had qualifying tuition, would the parent be able to qualify (such as their income) for the American Opportunity Credit? Any chance the some of the scholarships are Pell Grants (or other scholarships that are not restricted to only tuition)?

C

Colmatt1

Level 3

Parent can claim both and income low enough to qualify from AOTC. On the daughter the scholarships were applied in spring 2035 to pay tuition posted in 2924 for the spring.

I thought if parent doesn’t claim them as dependents then they could claim college expenses, not getting refundable credit but reducing their tax burden.

sjrcpa

Level 15

"I thought if parent doesn’t claim them as dependents then they could claim college expenses, not getting refundable credit but reducing their tax burden."

That's correct but that's not how you framed your original question.

The more I know the more I don’t know.