1098-Ts
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1098-Ts

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Article Summary

About 1098-Ts

The 1098-T (Tuition Statement) is an IRS tax form filed by eligible education institutions to report payments received and payments due from the paying student. One copy is sent to the student and the other retained by the institution.

Campus Café does not generate 1098-T forms, rather provides an output of data that can be used to complete IRS-supplied forms or sent to third-party vendor ECSI Heartland for processing. 

Please note that per the IRS, data cannot be printed on IRS pre-printed 1098-T forms using a computer printer, as the data will not transfer to the copies. The IRS supplied pre-printed forms are designed to be completed with a typewriter or pen.

Please note the only third-party vendor supported is ECSI Heartland. However, other vendors may accept the file.

Intro to 1098-Ts Webinar Recording


International Students

An international student is defined as a student where on his or her Bios page the International Code is set to Y. International students may optionally be eliminated from the reports.

1098-T Boxes

Address

The address used depends on the configuration of custom control TEN98T_ADD.

A Y in the Sequence 1, Parameter Value 1 box indicates the 1098T will use the local address, otherwise the system will use the home address.

Payments Received for Qualified Tuition and Related Expenses / Scholarships or Grants (Boxes 1 and 5)

Important
Campus Café cannot provide tax consultation for an institution's specific requirements and billing structure. Please consult your tax professional to determine what transactions should be included on your institution's 1098-Ts.

The 1098-T boxes 1 and 5 hold totals for qualified tuition payments (Box 1), and scholarships or grants (Box 5). The amounts in these and other dollar value boxes are populated based on the configuration of Campus Cafe transaction codes. Prior to configuring Campus Cafe, consult with a tax professional about how the institution will categorize each transaction code. Besides a tax professional, information is available from the IRS 1098-T instructions and the National Association of Colleges and University Business Officers.

Transaction Codes

Campus Cafe Transaction codes must be configured prior to running the 1098-T process. Be sure to configure all transaction codes within the period of time encompassed by the 1098-T. Even inactive transaction codes may need to be configured if they were used during the reporting period.

Report Code 1098T box

  • T-Tuition is selected for transaction codes that create/bill an eligible tuition and related expenses on a student's ledger. (e.g., tuition, Class Program Fee, Technology Fees, etc.) When a transaction code is marked as T-Tuition, it should not be marked as a payment in the Payment Code box. Transactions not eligible tuition and related expenses (e.g., room and board, late charges, application fees, transportation, payment plan fees, collection fees/interest, transcript order fees) should not be marked with T-Tuition. Tuition indicates a qualified tuition or related expense.
  • S-Scholarship is selected for transaction codes for scholarships, grants, and third-party payments, excluding family or loan payments. Scholarship will place the transaction in the scholarship box (Box 5).
  • Blank or 'N' - Will exclude it from the 1098-T altogether.

Payment Code 1098T box

  • Blank (--choose one--) indicates the transaction is not a payment.
  • Yes - Indicates the transaction is a qualified payment. Such payments usually include cash, check, credit, online, third-party payments, loans, institutional scholarships, federal and local grants/scholarship, etc.

Transaction Code Configuration Examples

Eligible Billed Tuition and Fees Expenses

Eligible transaction codes that are billed to the student are typically marked with "T-Tuition" in the Report Code 1098-T box only; the Payment Code is generally "left blank" as it is not a "payment".

Scholarships

Scholarships are typically marked with both the "S-Scholarship" in the Report Code 1098-T box and "Yes" in the Payment Code box. However, if a scholarship is restricted to a non-eligible expense the Payment Code box should be left blank.

Federal and State/Local Grants

Federal grants are generally marked as both a "S-Scholarship" the Report Code and "Yes" in the Payment Code box. However, if a State/Local Grant is restricted to a non-eligible expense the Payment Code box should be left blank.

Student Loans

Loans are marked as "Yes" in the Payment code box and not considered scholarships or billed tuition.

Refunds (Issued to the student)

Transaction codes that produce refunds to students should be reviewed for use with the Payment Code 1098-T box with "Yes". If the payment code is set for a refund transaction code and a debit is made using that same transaction code, it will reduce the total 1098-T payments by that amount. Generally these are not marked with the "T-Tuition" Report Code.

Future Payments (Box 7)

This box is checked if any payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses reported for tax year relate to an academic period that begins in January through March of the subsequent calendar year. The Campus Cafe process checks this box if any student payments are associated with semesters that start between January 1 and March 31 of the subsequent year up to the amount billed for those semester(s).

Half-Time Student (Box 8)

For each student in a credit-hour program, the process sums the enrolled credits by semester for semesters falling within the tax (calendar) year. It then compares the total to the half-time threshold set for the semester in semester date maintenance. If the total meets or exceeds the threshold for any semester within the year, the process indicates the student as half time. (Note semesters can be tied to student degree sites. The process looks first for a semester with the student's degree site and then to the semester with no site attached for the credit thresholds. If neither exist, the process assumes six credits constitute half time for undergraduate students and three credits constitute half time for graduate students.)

For each student in a clock-hour program, the process evaluates if the years to complete is less than or equal to 2 in major maintenance. If so, the process indicates the student was at least half time.

Graduate Student (Box 9)

Graduate student status is determined based on the student's major(s) during the tax (calendar) year. The process first evaluates the student's degree(s) start and end dates on the student's degree detail. The process evaluates only degree rows that fall within the tax (calendar) year. Majors within those degree rows are checked against their configuration in major maintenance. Majors with a Credential Level 4 and above are considered a graduate programs and the students with those majors will be marked as graduate students.

In the event the degree start and end dates do not exist, the process will use the student's degree marked as current and evaluate whether the major is marked as a graduate program in major maintenance.

If the student was both a undergraduate and graduate student during the tax (calendar) year, the system will indicate the student was a graduate student.

Generate the 1098-T Data

To access this function the following permissions must be enabled: "Permission #387" under "Module 73: Student Financials"

Important
The 1098-T process evaluates only qualified tuition charges posted within the previous four years. The process will not capture payments within the last four years if the student has had no qualified charges within the last four years.
  1. Navigate to Student Financials > 1098T Select
    School Code: Enter 00
    Campus Code: Enter 00
    Tax Year: The calendar year (e.g. 2020) for which to produce the 1098-T
    Test/Production Level: Enter 00
    Validate Batch: Check the box
    The Institution has followed proper TIN procedures: Check to certify that the school has complied with IRS regulations related to the production of 1098-Ts.
  2. Click Create 1098T file
  3. The screen may reload several times, and the Process Launched View Reports t appears. Clicking the link will take you to "Base Reports page" to review the reports.

Example:

Note

Depending on how many students will be included in the report, the report may take up to 15 minutes to process. In the case of a large amount of students, the "Process Launched View Reports" link may appear before the report file is completely generated.

1098-T Data Review Report

This base report provides a way to review the data elements of individual student 1098-Ts. This report includes students without valid Social Security Numbers.

The report uses the last data set and tax year run from the 1098-T Select screen. Only one 1098-T data set is held at a time.

Important
The 1098-T review report relies on the data generation process being run prior. Changes made after the process is run, inclusive of changes to billing transactions, biographical and address changes, will not be reflected until the 1098-T process is rerun.
  1. Navigate to Faculty/Staff > Base Reports
  2. Log in to Base Reports
  3. Click Billing and Accounts Receivable
  4. Click 1098T Review
  5. Set desired parameters
  6. Click View Report

ECSI Heartland File

The ECSI Heartland file is a base report that is formatted for upload to ECSI Heartland for its production of 1098-Ts. This report excludes students without valid Social Security Numbers.

The report uses the last data set and tax year run from the 1098-T Select screen. Only one 1098-T data set is held at a time.

Important
The 1098-T ECSI Heartland file relies on the data generation process being run prior. Changes made after the process is run, inclusive of changes to billing transactions, biographical and address changes, will not be reflected until the 1098-T process is rerun.
  1. Navigate to Faculty/Staff > Base Reports
  2. Log in to Base Reports
  3. Click Billing and Accounts Receivable
  4. Click ECSI 1098T report
  5. Set parameters
    Enter your ECSI Client Code: The code provided by ECSI that identifies your institution
    Select Site(s) for Reporting: The report will display only students from the selected student degree site(s)
    Enter Year for 1098T Filling: Enter as four numbers the tax year represented by the data (e.g. 2020)
    The Institution has followed proper TIN solicitation procedures: The IRS requires that institutions make a good faith effort to collect student Social Security Numbers. Select Yes to indicate to ECSI that an effort has been made.
    Select Student Type: Domestic/International: The report will display only students of the selected type. A student is considered international if on the student's Bios page the International Code is set to Yes.
    Exclude Students whose Box 1 (Tuition Paid) Equals Box 5 (Scholarships): Select Yes to not display in the report students who tuition has been entirely covered by grants and scholarships as defined by their billing transaction codes.
  6. Click View Report
  7. To export the file, click the blue disk icon and choose Excel (Note it is important to choose Excel)
  8. Save the file to your computer; you will next need to save the file in text format to comply with ECSI requirements. Continue following the directions to do so.
  9. Open the file in Excel
  10. In Excel, navigate to File > Save As
  11. Choose a location to save the file
  12. In the File Name box enter 1098-T.statement.data.CCYY where “CCYY” represents the reporting year of the 1098-T data, for example for tax year 2020 replace CCYY with 2020 so the file would be 1098-T.statement.data.2020
  13. In the Save as type choose Text (MS-DOS) (*.txt)
  14. Click Save
  15. Prior to submitting the text file to ECSI, open the text file and do a Find and Replace.  Find all double quotes " and replace with nothing. 
  16. Log in to the ECSI Client Portal and upload the file.
Note: If your report is not generating and your transaction codes are set properly; your OUTPUTPATH might be set incorrectly.  Please contact the help desk.

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