Taxes & Misc. Forms

We strongly encourage all students and parents to refer to IRS Publication 970 for more detailed information on reading the 1098-T form.

IRS Publication 970

1098-T forms are required to be provided by institutions of higher education in connection with the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. Though the IRS provides the required forms, not all boxes on the form are currently required to be filled in by institutions of higher education. The 1098-T form is an information report to assist students in determining if he/she qualifies for certain education related tax credits. See IRS Publication 970 for information about education tax credits. The amounts on form 1098T might be different than what you paid.

West Texas A&M University is unable to provide you with individual tax advice, but should you have questions, you should seek the counsel of an informed tax preparer or adviser.

West Texas A&M University has 1098-T forms available on Buff Advisor for students who have opted into electronic delivery. Students who do not opt into electronic delivery receive their form in the mail within two weeks of January 31 to the preferred mailing address they have on file with the Registrar’s Office. Students that do not make an effort to keep their mailing address current will have their 1098-T delayed or not received if a correct address is not provided.

WTAMU will issue 1098-T forms to all qualifying students including students who do not have a social security number on file with the Registrar’s Office. Please be advised that if a student is issued a 1098-T without an SSN, the student could be subject to IRS penalty. Contact the Registrar’s office to have your SSN added.

Important Notice: WTAMU will issue form 1098T to Non-Resident Alien students beginning in 2019. Please see IRS Publication #519, “U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens”, for proper use of the 1098T form. 

What is the purpose of each box?

Due to a change to institutional reporting requirements under federal law, beginning with tax year 2018, we will report in Box 1 the amount of QTRE you paid during the year.

This box shows the total payments received from any source, (personal payment, financial aid, scholarship, and sponsored billing), for qualified tuition and related expenses.

Which paid tuition and fees are reported in box 1?

This box shows the amounts of adjustments made for a prior year.

This box will list the total amount of scholarship and grants awarded to the student between January 1 and December 31 of the tax year.

This box shows the amount of adjustments made for a prior year regarding scholarship and grant awards.

Checked if the amount in Box 1 includes amounts for an academic period beginning January – March of the next year.

This box is checked if the student was enrolled for at least one period, (Spring , May Intersession, Summer 1 and Summer 2, Fall, and Winter Intersession) as at least half time, (6 semester credit hours).

This box should only be checked if the student is enrolled in a graduate level degree plan. Junior and senior students taking graduate level course work should not have this box checked.

This box is used to report the total amount of reimbursements or refunds of qualified tuition and related expenses paid by insurer. This box is almost always blank for WTAMU students.

Why doesn't the tuition and fee payments reflected on my 1098-T form match my records?

When reviewing your records, you must take into consideration actual registration dates AND payment dates in order to reconcile your records to the amounts on the form.

The information listed on IRS Form 1098-T may be different than the amount you actually paid towards Qualified Tuition and Related Expenses (hereafter known as QTRE). We strongly recommend seeking professional assistance when claiming an education tax credit. Regardless of the information provided on the 1098-T, if you choose to claim an education tax credit, you should always keep documentation such as invoices and receipt of payment that supports any claimed tax credit even if you report only what is on IRS Form 1098-T.

• The IRS Form 1098-T is an information form filed with the Internal Revenue Service.
• The IRS Form 1098-T that you receive reports amounts paid for qualified tuition and related expenses, as well as other related information
• You, or the person who may claim you as a dependent, may be able to claim an education tax credit on IRS Form 1040 for the qualified tuition and related expenses that were actually paid during the calendar year.
• All information that West Texas A&M University can or will provide you is either on the 1098-T form or on the website. We are not allowed to discuss tax implications or give tax advice.

As per CFR26, 1.6050S-1B, forpurposesof determining theamountofpaymentsreceived forqualified tuition and related expensesduring a calendaryear,paymentsreceived with respect to an individual during the calendaryearfrom any source (except for anyscholarshipor grant that, by itsterms, must be applied to expenses other thanqualified tuition and related expenses, such as room and board) are treated aspaymentsofqualified tuition and related expensesup to the totalamountbilled by the institution for such expenses. Forpurposesof this section, apaymentincludes any positiveaccountbalance (such as any reimbursement or refund credited to an individual's account) that an institution applies toward current charges.

For example, if a student pays $5,000 during 2022FA, but $4,000 was reportable tuition and $1,000 was for room. The student was also charged $4,000 tuition in December 2022 for the 2023SP term, but did not make any payments. The full $5,000 will be in 2022 box 1, and box 7 will get checked, and the Current Year QTRE Carryover is reduced to $3,000. In 2023, when they pay $4,000 tuition for 2023SP tuition, only $3,000 of that will be reportable.

For additional information on claiming education tax credits, see IRS Publication 970.