Updated October 8, 2026. Quick answer: Form 1098-T is the tuition statement an eligible educational institution files, and gives the student, for payments of qualified tuition and related expenses. Box 1 shows payments received during the calendar year, not the amount billed, and the 2026 instructions say box 1 is not reduced by the scholarships and grants in box 5. The form supports an education credit claim but does not calculate one.
Related reading on this site: IRS Publication 970.
Line-by-line IRS form guides for 2025: Form 8863, Form 8863 lines 1 to 8 and Form 8863 line 31.
Read box by box from the IRS form text: Form 1098-T box 4, Form 1098-T box 5 and Form 1098-T box 7.
Read box by box from the IRS instructions: Form 1098 boxes explained.
What Form 1098-T is and who gets one
The IRS describes the filer in one sentence: “File Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement, if you are an eligible educational institution.” The filing duty is per student: “You must file for each student you enroll and for whom a reportable transaction is made.” An insurer can file too: “if you are an insurer, file Form 1098-T for each individual to whom you made reimbursements or refunds of qualified tuition and related expenses.”
A school is not required to send a form to every enrolled student. The instructions list exceptions, including “Courses for which no academic credit is offered, even if the student is otherwise enrolled in a degree program;” “Nonresident alien students, unless requested by the student;” and “Students whose qualified tuition and related expenses are entirely waived or paid entirely with scholarships;” So a student on a full scholarship may receive no form at all. The booklet also covers Form 1098-E for student loan interest, which is a separate statement from a lender.
Enrollment is tested per academic period: “You must file Form 1098-T for each student who is enrolled in your institution for any academic period (for example, semester, trimester, or quarter) in 2026, but see Exceptions, earlier.”
What counts as qualified tuition and related expenses
The reporting category is narrower than the whole bill: “Qualified tuition and related expenses are tuition, fees, and course materials required for a student to be enrolled at or attend an eligible educational institution.” The excluded list is where students most often find a mismatch with their school account: “Charges and fees for room, board, insurance, medical expenses (including student health fees), transportation, and similar personal, living, or family expenses.”
Not every school qualifies as the filer: “An eligible educational institution is a college, university, vocational school, or other postsecondary educational institution” that participates in the Department of Education’s student aid programs.
Boxes 1 to 10
The form has ten numbered boxes, two of which are blank.
| Box | What it shows | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses | Not reduced by scholarships |
| 2 and 3 | Reserved for future use | Blank on the 2026 form |
| 4 | Adjustments made for a prior year | Refunds or reductions tied to earlier forms |
| 5 | Scholarships or grants | Those the school administered and processed |
| 6 | Adjustments to scholarships or grants for a prior year | May mean an amended return |
| 7 | Box 1 includes an academic period beginning January through March 2027 | Checkbox |
| 8 | At least half-time student | Checkbox |
| 9 | Graduate student | Checkbox |
| 10 | Insurance contract reimbursements or refunds | Filled in by insurers |
Box 1 is the figure most people look for: “Enter the total amount of payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses from all sources during the calendar year.” It nets out refunds: the amount reported is the payments received less reimbursements or refunds made that year that relate to those payments. And “The amount reported is not reduced by scholarships and grants reported in box 5.” A late payment can land here too: “Include in this box the receipt of a payment of past-due qualified tuition or related expenses from a previous calendar year, but only if the educational institution previously billed the student for such amount(s).”
Payments received versus amounts billed. On this edition the answer is that box 1 uses payments received, and box 2 is no longer a place for billed amounts: “Box 2. Reserved for future use.” The word billed still appears in box 4, which asks for “any reductions in charges for qualified tuition and related expenses made during the calendar year that relate to amounts billed that were reported for any prior year after 2002.” That wording suggests a prior-year form could have reported on a billed basis, which is worth knowing if your earlier-year statements look different from this year’s.
Adjustments and scholarships: boxes 4, 5 and 6
Box 4 is about earlier years: “Enter reimbursements or refunds of qualified tuition and related expenses made in 2026 that relate to payments received that were reported for any prior year after 2002.” The student copy warns what that can mean: “This amount may reduce any allowable education credit that you claimed for the prior year (may result in an increase in tax liability for the year of the refund).”
Box 5 reports aid the school handled: “Enter the total amount of any scholarships or grants that you administered and processed during the calendar year for the payment of the student’s costs of attendance.” Example: “A Pell Grant is an example of a grant administered and processed by a college or university in all cases.”
The student should not assume box 5 is complete: “The amount of scholarships or grants for the calendar year (including those not reported by the institution) may reduce the amount of the education credit you claim for the year.” The form also carries a planning note: “You may be able to increase the combined value of an education credit and certain educational assistance (including Pell Grants) if the student includes some or all of the educational assistance in income in the year it is received.” Box 6 is the prior-year mirror: “You may have to file an amended income tax return (Form 1040-X) for the prior year.”
Boxes 7 to 10: the checkboxes and insurance
Box 7 flags a timing issue: “Check this box if any payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses reported for 2026 relate to an academic period that begins in January through March of 2027.” The student copy sends you to Pub. 970 for how to report those amounts.
Box 8 and box 9 are workload checkboxes. Half-time means “A half-time student is a student enrolled for at least half the full-time academic workload for the course of study the student is pursuing.” Graduate status is defined as “enrolled in a program or programs leading to a graduate-level degree, graduate-level certificate, or other recognized graduate-level educational credential.”
Box 10 is only for insurers: “If you are an insurer, enter the total amount of reimbursements or refunds of qualified tuition and related expenses that you made to the student during 2026.” For the student, “The amount of reimbursements or refunds for the calendar year may reduce the amount of any education credit you can claim for the year”.
The form is support for a credit, not the credit
The student instructions open with the purpose: “You, or the person who can claim you as a dependent, may be able to claim an education credit on Form 1040 or 1040-SR.” And the form is documentation: “This statement is required to support any claim for an education credit.”
It does not do the math. The pointer is “To see if you qualify for a credit, and for help in calculating the amount of your credit, see Pub. 970, Form 8863, and the Instructions for Form 1040.” And on who to call: “do not contact the filer or the service provider for explanations of the requirements for (and how to figure) any education credit that you may claim.”
A mismatch between box 1 and what you paid out of pocket is normal, because box 1 can include payments from every source and the school’s record of which charges are qualified is its own.
529 plans and other education funding: what the form does and does not say
Many families pay tuition from a 529 plan, but neither the 2026 instructions nor the student copy of Form 1098-T mention 529 plans, savings plans, or Coverdell accounts. So this form gives no rule for how a 529 withdrawal and an education credit interact; that coordination is decided under other tax rules and in other IRS publications. For the state side of 529 contributions, see 529 plan tax deductions by state, and for superfunding a plan, see the five year gift election. Savings bonds used for school are covered on the I bond education exclusion page.
Which revision applies
The edition read for this page is the Instructions for Forms 1098-E and 1098-T (2026), dated September 30, 2025 in the archived PDF, together with the 2026 Form 1098-T. Because the form and its student copy are labeled 2026, the box descriptions here are for payments in calendar year 2026, and the statement you receive in early 2027 is on this edition. “For the latest information about developments related to Forms 1098-E and 1098-T and their instructions, such as legislation enacted after they were published, go to IRS.gov/Form1098E or IRS.gov/Form1098T.”
The Form 1098-T and 1098-E box pages in one table
Each row links to the page that reads a box on Form 1098-T or Form 1098-E. The right column is the summary each page carries.
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Form 1098-T and 1098-E Boxes Explained, Box by Box | The boxes on Form 1098-T (tuition) and Form 1098-E (student loan interest) that matter when you file: what each shows and where it goes, one page per box. |
| Form 1098-T Box 1: Payments Received for Qualified Tuition | Form 1098-T box 1 shows what the school received for qualified tuition and related expenses: what it counts, what it leaves out, and where it fits. |
| Form 1098-T Box 4: Adjustments Made for a Prior Year | Form 1098-T box 4 shows a refund or reduction tied to a prior year’s tuition, what it can do to a credit you already claimed, and what Pub. 970 says. |
| Form 1098-T Box 5: Scholarships or Grants Explained | Form 1098-T box 5 shows scholarships or grants the school administered: which payments count and how they can reduce an education credit (Pub. 970). |
| Form 1098-T Box 7: January to March Academic Period | Form 1098-T box 7 is a checkbox for payments tied to an academic period starting January to March of the next year, and how Pub. 970 treats them. |
| Form 1098-T Box 8: At Least Half-Time Student | Form 1098-T box 8 is a checkbox for at least half-time enrollment. How the school sets the standard and why Pub. 970 ties it to the American opportunity credit. |
| Form 1098-E Boxes 1 and 2: Student Loan Interest | Form 1098-E box 1 shows student loan interest the lender received; box 2 flags older loans. What each means and where it goes (Pub. 970). |
Common mistakes
- Treating box 1 as the amount to claim. It is payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses from all sources, it is not reduced by box 5 scholarships, and the form itself points to Pub. 970 and Form 8863 for the credit.
- Assuming box 5 lists all aid. The student copy says scholarships and grants for the year, including those not reported by the institution, may reduce the credit.
- Calling the school to ask how to calculate the credit. The form says not to contact the filer or the service provider for those explanations.
Related: 529 plan tax deductions by state, 529 five year gift election, I bond education tax exclusion, and Form 1098.
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Answer againSources
- Instructions for Forms 1098-E and 1098-T (2026): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1098et.pdf
- Form 1098-T: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1098t.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 8, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.