GSW Website Search
- Apply
- About
- Academics
- Admissions
- Financial Aid
- Athletics
- Student Life
- myGSW
- A-Z Index
- Directory
- Map
- Visit
- Give
Starting with the tax year 2018, the federal law has changed the reporting requirement for each university. The university must report payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses. We also report any scholarships/grants you received (free money not required to be paid back) on the 1098-T form (Box 5). We will now report out of pocket payments received (Box 1) on the 1098-T form and not charges billed (Box 2). This includes cash, check, credit card, and loan payments that pay towards qualified tuition and related expenses. The calculations are based on effective transactions for the calendar year (January – December).
Qualified tuition and related expenses are tuition and fees (except for Health Fee, Parking Fee, and Student Insurance fees) a student must pay to be enrolled at or attend Georgia Southwestern State University. The following are not qualified tuition and related expenses:
Hope Scholarship Credit became effective January 1, 1998, and allows up to a $1,500 maximum tax credit per year for the first two years of post secondary education for each individual student. The Lifetime Learning Credit began July 1, 1998, and allows up to a $2,000 cumulative maximum tax credit per year for all students in a taxpayer’s family.
Office of Student Accounts
800 GSW State University Dr.
Americus, GA 31709
229-931-2013 phone
229-931-2768 fax
stuaccts@gsw.edu
Monday - Friday: 8:30am - 4:30pm
Staff
Georgia Southwestern State University cannot determine if a student qualifies for a tax credit and is not allowed to give tax advice. Students should contact a tax professional about their personal income tax situation.
Student Tax Advice
Each year GSW will provide a 1098-T Statement by the IRS Deadline of January 31. The 1098-T Statement will be available on your RAIN Account and the Touchnet Payment Portal. Your 1098-T form will not be mailed or emailed.
Access from your RAIN account:
Access from your Touchnet Portal (Effective 2021):
The 1098-T is a tax form that Georgia Southwestern State University provides to the student to file federal income taxes. It is used for the purpose of determining a student's eligibility for education tax credits.
Due to a change to institutional reporting requirements under Federal Law, Georgia Southwestern State University has started reporting QTRE (Qualified Tuition and Related Expenses) in Box 1 of the 1098-T for tax year 2018 moving forward. Box 1 only represents amounts paid for qualified tuition and related expenses. It does not include payments made for room and board, insurance, health fees, parking permits, and books.
The IRS no longer allows institutions to report in Box 2 (Tax Deductible Amounts Billed).
Box 4 (Adjustments made for a prior year) reflects any refunds of tuition and fees billed in a previous tax year that you may have received in the current tax year. The amount in Box 4 may reduce any allowable education credit you claimed for a prior year.
This box contains the sum of all scholarships and grants GSW administered and processed for the student’s account during the calendar year. Scholarships that pay for tuition (qualified scholarships) as well as for housing, books, and other expenses (non-qualified scholarships) will be included in this amount. Tuition waivers and payments received from third parties that are applied to student accounts for educational expenses are included in this box.
Decreases or refunds of scholarship amounts related to scholarships reported in a previous year are included in this box. This amount is reported as a positive number per IRS requirements. However, it is actually a decrease in the amount that was reported on a prior year 1098-T.
This box will be checked if the amount reported in Box 1 includes Payments Received and posted to a student account in the current year that pays for a semester beginning in the next calendar year. For example, payments received in December 2017 for the Spring 2018 Academic term will be reported on a 2018 1098-T. Box 7 will be checked to indicate that this is the case.
A check in this box indicates that you are or have been enrolled at GSW at least half-time for at least one semester during the calendar year.
If you are at least a half-time student for at least one academic period that begins during the year, you meet one of the requirements for the American Opportunity credit. You do not have to meet the workload requirement to qualify for the Lifetime Learning credit.
(Student has to give access to the statement before an Authorized User can view it.)