The Form 1098-T Tuition Statement is used to report information to the IRS as required by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. The form helps you and the IRS determine your eligibility to claim certain tax credits (e.g., Hope or Lifetime Learning). See IRS Publication 970, "Tax Benefits for Education" for more information.

Wake Tech is required to send the 1098-T to students by January 31 each year summarizing qualified tuition and fees billed during the previous year.

Wake Tech is required to issue a 1098-T to eligible students by January 31 of each year. If you have consented to receive an electronic version on Self-Service, you will go to Self-Service to access and print your 1098-T. If you did not consent to receive an electronic version, your 1098-T will be mailed to you by January 31 to the address we have on file as of mid-January.

In Self-Service, got to "Tax Information," and select the electronic consent option under "1098-T Electronic Consent."

• Have you consented to receive an electronic version? If so, or if you are not sure, go to Self-Service 1098-Ts to see if you have a statement for the current tax year. If there is a statement on Self-Service and you have consented to receive it electronically, you will not receive a 1098-T in the mail.
   
• Do we have a current address on file for you? You can check – and change – your address through WebAdvisor; please update it if it is not current. To view and print your 1098-T, go to Self-Service and consent to receive the electronic version. If the mailing address was the problem, you should now be able to see your 1098-T.

If your Social Security number (SSN) does not appear on the 1098-T or is incorrect, it is because we do not have the information in our system. You are required by the IRS to provide your SSN so that we can include it on your 1098-T. If you fail to provide your SSN to the college, you may be subject to a fine by the IRS. You can correct this by completing a W-9 form and returning it in person to the Cashier's Office in Montague Hall, Room 110, on the Southern Wake Campus, or by mail to:

Wake Technical Community College
Attn: Financial Services
9101 Fayetteville Road
Raleigh NC  27603

Once we update your SSN in our system, you should be able to view a corrected 1098-T in Self-Service. We are required to send the 1098-T information to the IRS by March 31.  We will continue updating SSN information until we send the file to the IRS.

No. The IRS requires colleges and universities to report total qualified tuition and related expenses "payments received."

The amount in Box 1 is the result of complex calculations performed by our general ledger software and may not correspond to your actual payments to be reported on your tax return. For these reasons, students are required to maintain their own proof of payment records, such as receipts, check copies and bank or credit card statements. You may print your statements by semester in Self-Service, which will detail dates payments were made by semester. Please contact your tax advisor or the IRS for more information.

Please refer to IRS Publication 970, which states the following:

"When figuring an education credit, use only the amounts you paid and are deemed to have paid during the tax year for qualified education expenses. In most cases, the student should receive Form 1098-T from the eligible educational institution by January 31. However, the amounts on Form 1098-T might be different than the amount you actually paid and are deemed to have paid."

So, the amount reported is not used to validate or reconcile the amount reported on a taxpayer form. It is up to the taxpayer to determine using their records what, in fact, they did pay in qualified expenses. 

The 1098-T includes total qualified amounts paid. For purposes of 1098-T reporting, some fees are excluded from this amount. Specifically, the Textbook Access Fee is not included. Also, the 1098-T is based on the amounts paid from all sources, including Financial Aid, and is limited to the invoice amounts for the year. You will need to consult your tax advisor or the IRS to determine what expenses are reportable on your tax return.

We do not include books on the 1098-T unless they are charged as part of a course fee (i.e., supply fee). We include only tuition and fees paid to the college. Please consult your tax advisor to determine if books are a deductible expense for tax purposes.

Box 5 shows the amount of scholarships and grants the student received. Box 5 does not include loans. Scholarships and grants reduce the amount of qualified expenses the student can use when calculating a deduction or credit.

The 1098-T is an "information" return, and the amount reported is not necessarily the amount you report for tax purposes. Most questions will need to be answered by a tax adviser. If you need more details on how your amount was calculated, we can provide more details, but we cannot change your 1098-T to agree to your records. Our system uses a formula to calculate the amount based on the amounts recorded in our system.  We cannot change the formula, as it is programmed by a third party.

For specific questions about your 1098-T form, call the help line at 919-866-5030 or email [email protected].

For questions about what to report on your tax forms, contact the IRS or a tax advisor.