1098T Tax Document

The 1098-T Form reports information on what you paid for Qualified Tuition and Related Expenses (QTRE) at a college or university.  All colleges and universities are required by the Internal Revenue Service to provide you with this information.  It serves to alert students that they may be eligible for federal income tax education credits such as the Lifetime Learning Credit and the American Opportunity Credit (previously the Hope Scholarship Credit) as part of their federal income tax return. IRS Publication 970, "Tax Benefits for Higher Education," as well as Chapter 35 of IRS Publication 17 (Your Federal Income Tax Guide for Individuals), provide additional information on these credits. There is no IRS requirement that you must claim the tuition and fees deduction or an education credit. Claiming education tax benefits is a voluntary decision for those who may qualify.

The 1098-T contains a combination of student personal data, such as name, address, Social Security Number (SSN), and institutionally provided enrollment data, such as status as a graduate or undergraduate student, along with whether the student was enrolled at least half-time during the calendar year.  The IRS will use this data to help determine who is eligible for the education tax credits. 

1098-T's are not produced for everyone in every tax year, review the appropriate page above to see if you qualify.  The most common reason one would not receive a 1098-T in 2016 or before would be because the Scholarships/Grants (Box 5) exceed the Qualified Tuition and Related Expenses (Box 2).

Current 1089-T form from irs.gov

Box 1: Used by Kutztown University starting 2018
Box 2: IRS no longer uses (2011 to 2017 Kutztown University used to report by charges billed)
Box 3: reserved by IRS for future use
Box 4: Adjustments made to a prior year's billed qualified tuition and related expenses (if applicable)
Box 5: Scholarships or Grants
Box 6: Adjustments made to a prior year's scholarships or grants
Box 7: Box is checked if the amount in Box 1 includes payments for an academic period beginning January - March 2023.
Box 8: Box is checked if you are enrolled half time or greater
Box 9: Box is checked if you are a graduate student

The IRS no longer allows reporting of amounts billed, therefore this box is blank for ALL students.

Qualified tuition and related expenses (QTRE) are those that a student must pay that are within the IRS guidelines.  This is a chart of Qualified Expenses vs. Not-Qualified Expenses for your reference.  Only payments that pay QTRE will show in Box 1.

Qualified Expenses	Not Qualified Expenses
Tuition	Housing
Inst. Service Fee	Meals
Tuition Tech Fee	Flex
Rec. Center Fee	Health Insurance (if required)
SGA Fee	And Misc. Items such as:
Student Union Fee	ID replacements
Deferment Fee	Health Center Fees for visits and services
Health Center Fee	Key Replacements
Transportation Fee	Bear Bucks
Adv. Registration Fee	Bookstore Accounts/Inclusive Access

Adjustment amounts reported in Box 4 and Box 6, may change any allowable education credit you may have claimed for a prior year. We encourage you to seek the advice of a tax advisor for specific information concerning the handling of prior year adjustments.

Effective Tax Year 2017 and forward - ALL students will receive a 1098-T with only these two exceptions:

• A student took courses for which no academic credit is offered, even if the student is otherwise enrolled in a degree program.
• The student is not a resident of the United States.  Forms can be provided upon request within 2 weeks.

Through Tax Year 2016 Higher Education Institutions are not required to furnish a 1098-T when:

• Student's scholarship or grants amount (Box 5) is greater than their qualified tuition and related expenses (Box 2)
• Student's qualified tuition and related expenses are covered by a formal billing arrangement directly between KU and the student's employer or government entity.
• A student took courses for which no academic credit is offered, even if the student is otherwise enrolled in a degree program.
• The student is not a resident of the United States.  Forms can be provided upon request within 2 weeks.

The 1098-T reflects amounts paid on your account in the calendar year 2023.  If the payment for Spring 2023 was posted in 2022 it will not be reported in 2023.  Most students had their charges for Spring 2023 on their accounts in 2022 and many paid in 2022.  You can see the date the payment was posted in MyKU > KU Financial Account tile > Account Activity.

You may have only paid a small amount or nothing towards your Spring 2024 semester in the calendar year of 2023 (posted on the system between 1/1/23 to 12/31/23).  If you use financial aid, this won't disburse until 3 weeks into the semester into the 2024 calendar year.  This means these payments will be reported on 2024 1098-T.

Federal regulations mandate these items to be postmarked no later than January 31^st to all eligible students with a valid Social Security number on file and an address in the United States.  Online access to this document may be available before that, directly with the third-party vendor we are using.  Once this option becomes available steps will be posted on the main 1098-T page and an announcement email to all students KU email accounts. 

We must file a 1098-T for you even if you did not share your Social Security Number (SSN) with Kutztown University and it is not in your student account. 

• To add your SSN to the document, you must share your Social Security Card with the University Registrar's Office, 610-683-4485. After doing so, you must notify the Office of Student Accounts that you have done this so that we know to update your 1098-T online.

• You may not have received a 1098-T if you have moved and not changed your HOME address in MyKU prior to the first of January.  To find out if we received a returned 1098-T for you, starting Feb. 14th, you can email us or call our office at 610-683-4133.  You may also use the steps above to retrieve the document online with Maximus TRA.
• You may not have had any payments to current QTRE items or any payments on your account in 2023.
• For Tax Years 2016 and before, you may not have received a 1098-T if your scholarship or grants (Box 5) exceeded your eligible tuition and required expenses (Box 2).

A third party vendor, MAXIMUS, TRA.  These are not produced or mailed from Kutztown, PA.

You can retrieve this online with MAXIMUS TRA as mentioned above. Duplicate requests will be accepted starting Feb 14th. Requests can be emailed from a KU email account to studentaccounts@kutztown.edu specifying the tax year for the duplicate. Duplicates will be mailed to the HOME address on file - NO EXCEPTIONS.  They will NOT be faxed or emailed. Duplicates and prior years are also available online with our third party (MAXIMUS TRA)- steps above. 

Employees of Kutztown University cannot offer assistance with tax form preparation, nor supply advice on what can or cannot be claimed.  Please do not contact the university for that purpose.

The responsibility for your individual tax circumstances rests with the taxpayer alone, and Kutztown University is not responsible for your interpretation of this information.  You are encouraged to refer to federal Publication 970 from the IRS.

Due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), only the student or those persons the student has authorized via the FERPA release, may contact the Office of Student Accounts for information or assistance regarding the 1098-T form.  To grant permission to another individual, please complete the Authorization for Access To Student Records form.  This form can be brought in, faxed in 610-683-4674, or scanned and emailed to studentaccounts@kutztown.edu.  Once again, we must state we cannot provide tax guidance or assistance.

Reporting by PAYMENTS 2018 IRS requirement:

Kutztown University began reporting by Payments received for the 2018 calendar year.  The payments are those for Qualified Tuition and Related Expenses (QTRE) - chart below (excludes housing, meals and other items).  We will only be reporting payments posted in the calendar year 2018; even if they were payments paying Spring 2019.  As always 1098-T's are based on the calendar year NOT when a semester occurs.

• 2017 and prior - we reported by charges billed in those respective calendar years (not when the semester occurred.)

2018 & 2017 reporting years (transition year): 

If Spring 2018 charges were billed in 2017, they were reported on the 2017 1098-T because in 2017 we reported by charges.  If the payments for Spring 2018 were posted in 2018, they too were reported on the 2018 1098-T form as we now report by payments.  Please be cautious to not double report the charges and the payments.  You should work with an informed tax preparer or advisor if needed.  We cannot provide guidance or advice on this mandated federal change in reporting.  We can only report what occurs in the calendar years. You do not have to claim what we report.

EVERY student who meets the citizenship requirement gets a 1098-T

Prior to 2017 - If your Scholarships/Grants (Box 5) exceeded your eligible charges (Box 2) a 1098-T was not required to be produced.  For this reason, it is possible to receive a 1098-T in 2017 or 2018 when you didn't receive them in prior years.