Death and Taxes...isn't that redundant?
Taxes are so much fun. Whoo! Hey, Berlin friends, how did y'all have to do your taxes? Any problems? I'm taking a small break from mine right now. I had some small trouble, in that I am completely unable to find a copy of my 2003 return. Luckily, Rome has an IRS Taxpayer Assistance center, and the nice woman there gave me the phone number of the automated IRS service. It was very painless, and I got to listen to some nice classical music while I was on hold. It's a good thing I really like classical music, I guess. The woman I talked to (I wish I could remember her name) was able to give me all the numbers I'll need to report on this year's return. She's even sending me a transcript of the information (I would have asked for an actual copy of my return from last year, but those cost a whopping $39.99). So, it's all working out well, and it appears I'll probably need to shell out a few hundred again, though I really shouldn't have to.
Here's what bugs me. Since last year, colleges and universities have been required to put scholarship amounts and the amount of tuition billed to students on the 1098-T (Tuition statement) forms. However, they are not required to list the payments received by the college for tuition. That means that, if you put all your stuff into one of those online forms at an online tax service site, it counts all of your scholarships as earned income, without deducting the amount they billed you. And that's not too cool for me, given that I receive numerous scholarships. For instance, the total amount of scholarships I received was $19,881. So, my total adjusted gross income, as far as ESmartTax is concerned, would be $24,371. I friggin' wish! So, understandably, I don't use www.esmarttax.com's services. I deduct the tuition billed myself. However, that still means that I have to count $4,151 of that money as earned income. You could argue that I earned it by being such a smart cookie and making good grades and good standardized test scores my entire life. But most of that $4,151, I can assure you, went to student housing, meals, and my housing while in Berlin. None of those costs count as "required" college expenses. Though, really, at some colleges, part of the degree requirement is that you live on campus for a certain amount of time (I was exempt from this, living 13 miles south of my college's campus). And at my college, you're required to have a meal plan if you live on campus. And you're always required to buy books; I, in fact, did, with my left-over scholarship money most semesters. I mean, my parents get to deduct the cost of my textbooks because I'm their dependent, but I don't! Why? Because it was my money and I was required to give it up, I feel wronged. I'm being taxed for over $4,000 more than what I worked for, and I never saw, much less touched or spent, most of it. Because of this, my earned income is almost doubled, and I'll have to actually pay taxes; otherwise they would be giving me money.
Eh, perhaps I don't have much right to complain. I mean, I did pocket a lot of the extra scholarship money I got my first year of college. Besides, I'm getting a presidential scholarship which pays my entire tuition costs. It should be no big deal that I have to pay a little. That part I don't mind so much. But the fact that the amount of tuition payed isn't listed on the 1098-T form irks me, though. Maybe I'll discuss that fact with my college's business office. If that can be fixed, it may help a lot of other students. I'm all about pestering people to make necessary changes in crap like that.
Here's what bugs me. Since last year, colleges and universities have been required to put scholarship amounts and the amount of tuition billed to students on the 1098-T (Tuition statement) forms. However, they are not required to list the payments received by the college for tuition. That means that, if you put all your stuff into one of those online forms at an online tax service site, it counts all of your scholarships as earned income, without deducting the amount they billed you. And that's not too cool for me, given that I receive numerous scholarships. For instance, the total amount of scholarships I received was $19,881. So, my total adjusted gross income, as far as ESmartTax is concerned, would be $24,371. I friggin' wish! So, understandably, I don't use www.esmarttax.com's services. I deduct the tuition billed myself. However, that still means that I have to count $4,151 of that money as earned income. You could argue that I earned it by being such a smart cookie and making good grades and good standardized test scores my entire life. But most of that $4,151, I can assure you, went to student housing, meals, and my housing while in Berlin. None of those costs count as "required" college expenses. Though, really, at some colleges, part of the degree requirement is that you live on campus for a certain amount of time (I was exempt from this, living 13 miles south of my college's campus). And at my college, you're required to have a meal plan if you live on campus. And you're always required to buy books; I, in fact, did, with my left-over scholarship money most semesters. I mean, my parents get to deduct the cost of my textbooks because I'm their dependent, but I don't! Why? Because it was my money and I was required to give it up, I feel wronged. I'm being taxed for over $4,000 more than what I worked for, and I never saw, much less touched or spent, most of it. Because of this, my earned income is almost doubled, and I'll have to actually pay taxes; otherwise they would be giving me money.
Eh, perhaps I don't have much right to complain. I mean, I did pocket a lot of the extra scholarship money I got my first year of college. Besides, I'm getting a presidential scholarship which pays my entire tuition costs. It should be no big deal that I have to pay a little. That part I don't mind so much. But the fact that the amount of tuition payed isn't listed on the 1098-T form irks me, though. Maybe I'll discuss that fact with my college's business office. If that can be fixed, it may help a lot of other students. I'm all about pestering people to make necessary changes in crap like that.
posted by Casey at 8:55 PM
1 Comments:
Sup? I just now had the time to look through your blog. I think a lot of it is really funny (a little comment-less, but who cares?) I am glad to hear you are liking your courses this semester. Talk to you later! (I am actualy going to try to call you again when I get home)
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