There are two education tax credits available, the Hope Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit. The credits are based on education expenses paid for you, your spouse, or your dependents. During any particular year, you can claim only one of the credits for each student.
To apply for a credit, taxpayers must report the amount of qualified tuition and fees paid as well as the amount of certain scholarships and grants used to pay tuition and fees in the tax year. Schools are required to send this information to each taxpayer by January 31 in the form of a 1098-T Tuition Statement. Taxpayers use this information and their own records for tuition and fees paid when they fill out IRS form 8863 to claim the tax credit.

WCC sends the Tuition Statement 1098-T to the student using the mailing address on file prior to the January 31st Deadline. Additional copies of the 1098-T may be obtained by signing into mywcc.waubonsee.edu:

• Student Tab
• Self-Service Quick Links
• Student Services
• Student Account Information/Make Payments
• Select Tax Year
• Tax Notification

The same information is furnished to the Internal Revenue Service.

The 1098-T reports the eligible charges incurred during the tax year and scholarships or grants disbursed to the student account in the tax year. It is the student’s responsibility to retain receipts for payments made during the tax year. You may view your payment history by signing into mywcc.waubonsee.edu:

• Student Tab
• Self-Service Quick Links
• Student Services
• Student Account Information/Make Payments
• Make Payments/View Account Detail
• Log In into Payments Area
• Payment History (under Recent Payments/Credits Section)
• Sort History by Tax Year

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8863.pdf
http://www.nasfaa.org/redesign/taxbenefitsguide.html
http://collegezone.com

Q: What is the tax reporting year?
A: The tax year is defined as January 1st to December 31st.

Q: Why isn’t box 1 filled in?
A: WCC reports eligible charges for the tax year. The college is not required to report amounts paid on a student account. It is the tax payer’s responsibility to document the payments made for an eligible student. See section above for steps to obtain Payment History.

Q: Why didn’t I get a 1098-T in the mail?
A: There are several reasons a student would not receive a 1098-T for a specific tax year. They include, but are not limited to the following:

• Student was not enrolled in eligible courses.
• Tuition charges for enrollment and withdrawals for the year net to a zero dollar amount.
• Scholarships disbursed to a student account were greater than the tuition charges.
• An active address is not on file with the Registration Office.

Q: What do I do if Box 4 or 6 are filled in?
A: Box 4 or 6 are completed if a 1098-T was sent for a previous tax year and a reduction in charges or scholarships was recorded in the current tax year. You may need to amend a previous year tax return if you claimed eligible tuition charges for the student.

Q: What do I do if I can’t find my 1098-T?
A: An electronic copy of the 1098-T has been provided for students on the Banner Self-Service Secure Area on mywcc.waubonsee.edu. See How Waubonsee Community College (WCC) Reports Tax Information above for these steps.

Q: Why are the charges listed in a different year than the payments I made?
A: If a student selects a payment plan to defer payments of tuition charges, the payments may be made the following tax year. Charges may be in one tax year and payments made in the following tax year. This would be indicated with an X in Box 7.

Q: Why is the box for Student’s Social Security Number blank?

A: WCC does not have a valid Social Security Number (SSN) on file. Unless a valid SSN is provided, WCC cannot report the 1098-T information to the IRS.

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