Accessing 1098-Ts and W9s

1. Log in to MyRED.
2. Select "View 1098-T Form" from the Student Accounts tab.
3. Select the correct tax year to access the 1098-T form.
4. If you want to see detailed information for a specific year, select "View Details" for that year.

Box 1 is Payments Received for qualified tuition related expenses. This box will show the total amount of payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses from all sources during the calendar year. This amount of payments received will be less than any reimbursements or refunds made during the calendar year that relate to the payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses during the same calendar year.

Note: The amount presented in box 1 is not to be reduced by scholarships and grants reported in box 5. The amount of payments received in box 1 will be absent at any amounts of any non-qualified educational expenses. Qualified education expenses, according to the IRS, are expenses for tuition and fees required to enroll at or attend an eligible educational institution. This includes related expenses such as mandatory fees, books, supplies and equipment that are required for the courses at the eligible educational institution.

Expenses that do not qualify: 

• Room and board.
• Travel.
• Research.
• Clerical help.
• Medical or health.
• Traffic fees.
• Equipment.
• Other expenses that are not required for enrollment or attendance.

These expenses will still not qualify even if the amounts for these charges must be paid as a condition of enrollment or attendance per the IRS publication. These costs that are not qualified will be absent from box 1 but should any undergraduate scholarships or grants as well as graduate fellowships be applied to those expenses that don't qualify, their amounts will be included in box 5.

The 1098-T should provide information for the student's institutions, such as:

• Adjustments made for prior years (box 4).
• Amount of scholarships or grants from the proceeding calendar year (box 5).
• Reimbursements or refunds (box 6).
• Whether the student was enrolled at least halftime (box 8).
• Graduate student (box 9).

Box 5 on form 1098-T reports the total amount of scholarships or grants administered and processed during the calendar year. The most effective method to verify the total is to open the billing statement within the calendar year, then total any scholarships and grants disbursed during any semester in which you were enrolled and attended at least half time.

You can confirm that the combined amounts of scholarship grants and assistance from each semester align with the totals displayed in the “View Details” section of box 5 in MyRED. The IRS publication also states that scholarships and grants generally include all payments received from third parties, excluding family members and loan proceeds. A Pell Grant is an example of a grant administered and processed by the university, the payer, in all cases. The Pell Grant amount would be included in box 5.

W-9S Form

A student may be asked to submit a completed W-9S—Request for Student's or Borrower's Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification—to process the 1098-T with an ITIN number or social security number.  

• Part I will ask for the student's name, address and either their social security number or ITIN number, as well as their NUID number.
• Part II requires a student's handwritten signature certifying that the number of the student input in part I is the correct taxpayer identification number or social security number.
• Should the student not be able to sign, they should select the correct option presented in part III, then handwrite their signature and put the date in the areas indicated.

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln, which includes any Husker Hub student services specialist or other administrative staff, are not qualified to provide legal and or tax advice. The information provided may or may not reflect recent revisions in IRS regulations. For tax advice on your specific situation as a student, please contact a tax professional. For assistance with filing student tax returns, an appointment may be scheduled with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program here on campus where both U.S. residents and international students can receive tax filing assistance for free. Students would need to bring in proof of identification documents, all W2s and other tax forms, including their 1098-T.