Tax Form 1098-T

As required by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Form 1098-T is mailed by January 31 to most students who paid for Qualified Tuition and Related Expenses (QTRE) in the preceding calendar year. QTRE include tuition and mandatory enrollment fees as well equipment fees that are required for your courses. Please see below for more information for what is and is not considered QTRE.

Your personal financial records serve as the supporting documentation for your federal income tax return. The 1098-T document provides information to assist you in preparing your tax return. It is important to remember that the 1098-T is an information form only, and does not directly define taxable income or eligibility for an education credit.

While we cannot answer specific tax questions, we are able to answer questions you may have regarding transactions between you and the University during the reporting period. Only a trained, certified tax advisor can provide appropriate individual guidance for you.

How to Obtain your 1098-T

Most students enrolled and billed for qualifying tuition and related expenses for a calendar year are sent a 1098-T tax form from Clark University by January 31 in the next calendar year. In order to provide this information, the student would need to have their social security number on their student record kept by the Registrar. If you have not provided your Social Security number (SSN) to Clark and you would like to do so, please complete a Substitute Form W-9S. Deliver or mail the completed form to the address below. Do NOT EMAIL the form. Email is not a secure way to transmit personal information. Do not submit this form to the IRS.

Hand Delivery:
Registrar’s Office
Shaich ASEC Building, 3rd Floor
939 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610

Mailing Address:
Clark University
Attention: Registrar’s Office
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610

Electronic 1098-T

If you would like to receive your 1098-T electronically, Clark University has partnered with TouchNet to provide students the ability to easily access and view their 1098-T forms through their ClarkYOU portal.

Benefits of receiving electronic notification:

Online delivery provides access to the 1098-T form earlier than the traditional mailing process.
Online delivery eliminates the chance that the 1098-T will get lost, misdirected, or delayed during delivery, or misplaced once delivered.
1098-T forms can be delivered while traveling or away from home

Frequently Asked Questions

The Form 1098-T is a statement that colleges and universities are required to issue to certain students. It provides the total dollar amount paid by the student for what is referred to as qualified tuition and related expenses (or “QTRE”) in a single calendar year.

The dollar amounts reported on your 1098-T may help you in filling out IRS Form 8863 – the form used for calculating the education tax credits that a taxpayer may claim as part of their tax return. (You can find detailed information about claiming education tax credits in IRS Publication 970, starting on page 9.) *You are not required to attach the 1098-T to your tax return. The 1098-T is not like the W-2 that you receive from an employer, which is required to be attached to the tax return filed with the IRS. The primary purpose of the 1098-T is to assist you in completing IRS Form 8863 to determine eligibility to claim education tax credits.

Most international students are not eligible to claim education tax credits with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. International students who may be eligible are:

permanent residents
married to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
those who may be claimed as a dependent by a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
those who have been in the U.S. long enough to file federal income tax returns as a resident

There are potentially many reasons for this discrepancy:

The amount in Box 1 only represents amounts paid for qualified tuition and related expenses (QTRE) and does not include payments made for things such as room and board, health insurance, books or parking which are not considered mandatory education expenses for tax purposes.
A 1098-T reports amounts that the student paid in a calendar year, and the pay date does not necessarily correspond to the dates that the classes were attended. For example, tuition for the Spring semester is typically billed in November of the prior year, so a student may have paid tuition for the 2023 Spring semester in 2022 despite the fact that classes did not start until 2023. The best and most accurate source of information about the timing and amounts that you paid for QTRE will be your Billing Statements, which can be viewed in your ClarkYou.

Explanation of IRS Form 1098-T

Amounts Paid for Qualified Tuition and Related Expenses

BOX 1 of IRS Form 1098-T reports the qualified tuition and related expenses paid during the calendar year. Sometimes this is referred to as qualified education expenses, although the two are not always interchangeable. Consult a tax professional for explanation. For purposes of IRS Form 1098-T, Clark University has determined based on interpretation of the limited IRS guidance provided that the following charges are included or not in qualified tuition and related expenses. Please note, IRS Publication 970 states that “the amount on form 1098-T might be different from the amount you actually paid and are deemed to have paid.” Further IRS Form 8863 instructions state that “The amount of qualified Tuition and related expenses reported on Form 1098-T may not reflect the total amount of the qualified tuition and related expenses paid during the year for which you may claim the tax credit. You may include qualified tuition and related expenses that are not reported on IRS Form 1098-T when claiming one of the related credits if you can substantiate payment of these expenses.”

Qualified Tuition and Related Expenses INCLUDED

Resident and Non-resident Tuition
Required Fees

Charges not considered Qualified Tuition and Related Expenses and therefore NOT INCLUDED

Housing related charges
Dining/Meal Plans
Health Insurance
Late Fees, Interest on Past Due Account
Parking Permit or fines
Department fines

Special Note regarding Study Abroad & International Education Charges – Some or all of your charges related to Study Abroad & International Education may be classified as Qualified Tuition and Related Fees. These may not be included on your form 1098-T. We recommend reviewing your individual situation with your CPA or tax advisor.

Adjustments Made for a Prior Year

BOX 4 of IRS Form 1098-T reports adjustments made to qualified tuition and related expenses calculated in a prior year. The amount reported in Box 4 represents a reduction in tuition billed during a prior calendar year. For example, if you were billed in Nov-Dec 2022 and later had a reduction in the QTRE charges in 2023 (i.e. withdrawal, courses dropped), Box 4 reports the decrease in billed tuition due to the withdrawal or drop. The amount reported in BOX 4 reports the decrease in QTRE from the withdrawal or drop of courses that reduced the QTRE. The amount reported in Box 4 for adjustments to qualified tuition and related expenses may reduce any allowable education credit you may claim for the prior year. See your tax advisor and/or IRS Form 8863/IRS Publication 970 for more information.

Note: It is possible for the other boxes to be empty and only have a number in BOX 4. This means as stated above that there was a reduction in qualified tuition and related expenses calculated on the 2022 1098-T that was reduced after December 31, 2022 but had no other reportable activity for the 2022 calendar year. Please consult a tax advisor and/or IRS Form 8863 and IRS Publication 970 for assistance.

Scholarships and/or Grants

BOX 5 of IRS Form 1098-T reports the total of scholarships or grants administered or processed by the Office of Student Accounts and/or the Office of Student Financial Aid during the calendar year.

Please note that the timing of each charge and scholarship are important regarding which year they are reported in. Many students have charges from Nov-Dec of 2022. Because in 2022 many students had payments larger than their QTRE, the BOX 1 amount for the Spring 2023 term may have been included in the 2022 1098-T. Also, in many of those same circumstances, the student also received scholarships and grants for Spring 2022 that did not post until January 2023. This may cause the 2023 1098-T to have zero in BOX 1 but BOX would be populated. Please consult a tax prepared regarding what this means to your individual tax situation.

The amount reported in BOX 5 does not include:

Tuition waivers provided during the calendar year.
Student Loans
Work Study
Employment
Scholarships, grants, reimbursements or other types of sponsorships not administered by the Office of Student Accounts and/or the Office of Student Financial Aid.

Per IRS instruction, Veteran’s Education Benefit amounts received are included in BOX 5.

Adjustments to Scholarships or Grants for a Prior Year

BOX 6 of IRS Form 1098-T reports adjustments made to scholarships or grants reported on a prior year Form 1098-T that was in BOX 5. The amount reported in BOX 6 represents a reduction in scholarships or grants reported for a prior calendar year. The amount reported in BOX 6 for adjustments to scholarships or grants may affect the amount of the education credit you may claim for the prior year. See IRS Form 8863 for how to report these amounts.

Additional Information Reported

BOX 7 indicates, if checked, that BOX 1 includes amounts for an academic period beginning in the next year (2024). For example, if you registered and paid for the upcoming Spring Semester during November or December, this box will be marked.

BOX 8 shows whether you are considered to be at least one-half of the normal full-time workload for at least one academic period during the calendar year.

BOX 9 shows whether you are considered to be enrolled in a program leading to a graduate level degree, certificate, or other recognized education credential.