Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement

Qualified Tuition and Related Expense (QTRE) is tuition and fees required for the enrollment or attendance of a student for courses of instruction at an eligible educational institution. The test for determining whether any fee is a QTRE is whether the fee is required to be paid to the eligible educational institution as a condition of the student's enrollment or attendance at the institution. QTRE’s do not include the costs of room and board, insurance, medical expenses (including student health fees), transportation, and similar personal, living, or family expenses, regardless of whether the fee must be paid to the eligible educational institution for the enrollment or attendance of the student at the institution.

Box 1: Payments Received for Qualified Tuition

Box 1 will report payments made toward QTRE in a calendar year. Health services, room and board, insurance, transportation are not considered qualified education expenses by the IRS, so payments made toward these charges will not be reflected on the 1098-T. All other tuition and related expenses paid on the student's account are reported in Box 1.

Box 2

Box 2 is blank because IRS has determined that institutions may no longer continue to report amounts billed in Box 2 for tax year 2018 (forms filed in 2019) and beyond.

Box 4: Adjustments to Qualified Tuition from a Prior Reporting Period

Any changes to a prior tax year that resulted in a reduction of payments toward previously reported qualified tuition will be reported in Box 4. For example, if the University reports $500 in payments in 2018, but a student retroactively drops a course from 2018 in the 2019 year without fee liability, the dropped value will appear in Box 4.

Note: Since 2018 is the first year of the payment reporting method, Box4 on 2018 1098-T will be empty.

Box 5: Scholarships and Grants Received

Box 5 reports the amount of all scholarships and grants disbursed in a calendar year towards cost of attendance. Scholarships and grants are defined by the IRS, so may include items that you do not recognize as a scholarship or grant-- for example, waivers are not reported in Box 5, however military benefits and payments from third party organizations may be. Amount reported on Box 5 may exceed amount reported on Box 1. 

Box 6: Adjustments to Scholarships and Grants Reported in a Prior Year

Similar to Box 4, Box 6 reports adjustments to previously reported scholarships and grants from a prior year. If a scholarship or grant is retroactively revoked, the value of the scholarship or grant will be reported in Box 6.

UMass is unable to provide tax advice. These Internal Revenue Service (IRS) links offer information regarding education credits:

• IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education
• Tax Benefits for Education: Information Center
• Education Credits
• American Opportunity Tax Credit
• Lifetime Learning Credit

Form 1098-T is issued by the University to any student who paid "qualified educational expenses" in the preceding tax year. Qualified expenses include tuition, any fees that are required for enrollment, and course materials the student was required to buy from the school.

Most students will see two boxes populated on their 1098-T, box 1 and box 5. Some students may have box 4 and box 6 populated as well. All transactions on the 1098-T reflect activity that occurred within a calendar year, regardless of the year or term that the transaction affected. 

The 1098-T only displays transactions that are posted to a student account within a calendar year, regardless of the year that the transactions affect. For example, your Box 5 value for Scholarships and Grants may be higher than what you actually received in a year if your department or third party payment provider pays your future term tuition in the current year. This often happens when the tuition for the spring semester of next year is calculated in December of current year, and if the department /3rd party pays that tuition in December of the current year it will appear on the current tax year Form1098-T. 

Tuition at UMass may include health fees, etc., which are not considered qualified expenses under IRS code. These fees are removed from reporting in Box 1, and can make it appear that less was reported than what you paid. Also, not all fees at the University are reported in Box 1, only those related to tuition-- no housing, no dining, no books, etc.

Probably not. Your Form 1098-T reports transactions that flowed through your student account during the calendar year. However, students typically incur other expenses that may also qualify for tax credits or deductions. The most common example is textbooks. You should rely on your own financial records and receipts to document those expenses. For further information on "qualified" education expenses, please review IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education. You may also wish to consult with a tax professional.

UMass is unable to provide tax advice. These Internal Revenue Service (IRS) links offer information regarding education credits:

• Tax Benefits for Education: Information Center
• Education Credits
• American Opportunity Tax Credit
• Lifetime Learning Credit

Scholarships that pay for QTRE are not taxable to the student. However, if any portion of your scholarships paid for non-qualified expenses, then you may be responsible for reporting such portion as taxable income on your tax return. For further guidance, please review IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education or consult with a tax professional.

Foreign students who are nonresident aliens for tax purposes should also review IRS Publication 519, US Tax Guide for Aliens.

The IRS is changing the reporting requirements for the 2018 tax year, therefore loans may be reported. For the purposes of tax reporting, if the loan proceeds were credited to the student’s account then they are assumed to pay QTRE first.  Under the rules, you may assume that all payments received go first toward QTRE, and then to nonqualified expenses such as room and board. The amount reported in Box 1 should not exceed QTRE charged.

Yes. The requirements of state-sponsored section 529 accounts allow for money to be withdrawn, without negative tax implications on the withdrawal, to pay for education expenses including room and board. So, those expenses are "qualified" for purposes of withdrawals from a section 529 account. However, room and board expenses are still "non-qualified" for purposes of computing an American Opportunity Credit, Lifetime Learning Credit, or tuition and fees deduction on your tax return. Therefore those expenses are not reflected on Form 1098-T. For further information on section 529 accounts and other education-related tax benefits, please review IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education, or consult with a tax professional.

If you did not consent to receiving your statement online, a tax form will be mailed to you. All Forms 1098-T issued from the UMass will be postmarked no later than January 31. Form 1098-T may also be available online.

• UMass Amherst: You may view your Form 1098-T online through SPIRE. Once in SPIRE, underneath “Main Menu” -> “Finances”, select “Consent for 1098-T”. If you have already consented to online distribution, simply click on “View 1098-T” option. You may view and/or print your statement from this menu option.
• UMass Boston: You can access Form 1098-T online through WISER. On your Student Center page, click on “Finance and Financial Aid”, then Click on “Student Financial Center”. Scroll down to the page to view your statement under heading “Tax Info”.
• UMass Lowell:  You can access Form 1098-T online through SiS. Once in Sis, click on the “Self Service”. On the next page, navigate to “Student Center”. Scroll down to the page to view your statement under “Finances” section.
• UMass Dartmouth: You can obtain Form 1098-T by logging into COIN Student Self-Service account. Access COIN through the myUMassD portal. Once logged in, under the “Finance” section of the Student Center, select “View 1098-T” and select the appropriate year.
• UMass Medical School: You can obtain Form 1098-T online via PSCS Student Self Service. Once logged in, click “Self Service” and then click “Student Center”. Under the “Finances” section, click the “1098T” link and select the appropriate year.

Please contact your campus’s Office of the Bursar.

• UMass Amherst
• UMass Boston
• UMass Dartmouth
• UMass Lowell
• UMass Medical School: 508-856-6612 or 508-856-6641

No, per IRS regulations, you do not qualify to receive a 2018 Form 1098-T because you were not enrolled in an academic period beginning in calendar year 2018.

Yes, per IRS regulations, you will receive a Form 1098-T for only the amount of qualified expenses that have not been refunded.