1098-T Can I report some of the expenses in next year?

Question

I was billed in December for my 2007 spring semester, but my school did not post my grants to my account untill January (so they don't show up till next year). So on my 1098-T for 2006 it appears that I have a large out of pocket expense I could use to claim Tax Credits with, however next year on my 2007 1098-T it will appear as though I have a large income from grants. What am I supposed to do?

Can I save my 2006 1098-T and apply those exspenses to my 2007 taxes?


Additionaly there are qualifying fees that were paid by myself in 2006 that I would like to claim tax credits for, how do I do this with my current 1098-T situation?


In case I was unclear, here is a simple example:

Tuition is 9000, fees are 1000. I was billed 10,000 in 2006 and I paid out of pocket 1000 in 2006.
So my 2006 1098-T would be:
Expenses: 10,000
Grants: 0
My school posted my 9000 grant in 2007, so my 2007 1098-T will be:
Expenses: 0
Grants: 9000

Answer 1

You can only claim the credit for the year when the money was actually paid out. So no, you can't just save it for next year.

Claim the credit for only the amount that was actually paid out of pocket. That should even everything up.