I am single, rent an apartment, have no dependents, and don?t plan to itemize. So my situation should be pretty simple. But, I have this big issue with my 1098-T that is causing my potential return amount to drop by about $2500 as soon as I enter this form.
Here is the problem...
I have a 1098-T that shows $11,200 in box 5 (scholarships/grants) but nothing in box 2 (amounts billed).
I graduated in May 2010, and the reason box 2 is empty is because the tuition for spring 2010 was included on my 2009 1098-T (and indeed, box 7 is checked on the 2009 form, indicating that that is the case). I was "billed" for the tuition on 11/16/2009 (it shows up on my bill as Tuition - Undergraduate 16,110.00). This is why it shows up on the
2009 1098-T. But I "payed" for it in 2010. That is to say all of that 11,200 financial aid, plus my own loans we're all posted to the account on 01/14/2010.I don't know what to do about this. If I just put in the 1098-T as printed it says my scholarships/grants exceed my expenses and it taxes all of it. But I assume I can't just put that 16,110 tuition on this year?s tax return because box 7 was checked on the 2009 1098-T indicating that the 16,110 was included in on there?
I feel like there may be some situation where I could amend the 2009 return to take that 16,110 off so I can use it for 2010. How would that work though, if I was a dependent last year? Would my parents need to amend theirs and, if so, how would this affect their 2009 return? I know that taking out the 16,110 would not cause my "billed" amount to be less than my "scholarships/grants" amount, so I don't think they wouldn't have to pay anything back for 2009 if they amended? Or does it matter what the exact difference between the two is (not just which is greater)?
Hopefully all that made sense. I am a little lost on this. What do I do? Do I need to amend 2009, and how does that work since I was a dependent?