You will receive a Form 1099-Q Payments From Qualified Education Programs (Under Sections 529 and 530) from each of the state programs from which you received a Qualified Tuition Program (QTP) distribution in the tax year. The amount of your gross distribution (Box 1) shown on each form will be divided between your earnings (Box 2) and your basis or return of investment (Box 3). The part of a distribution representing the amount paid or contributed to a QTP does not have to be included in income. This is a return of the investment in the plan. The designated beneficiary generally does not have to include in income any earnings distributed from a QTP if the total distribution is less than or equal to adjusted qualified education expenses.

To enter data from your Form 1099-Q:

1. From within your TaxAct return (Online or Desktop), click Federal. On smaller devices, click in the upper left-hand corner, then click Federal.
2. Click Education in the Federal Quick Q&A Topics menu to expand, then click Education program payments (Form 1099-Q).
3. Click + Add Form 1099-Q to create a new copy of the form or click Edit to review a form already created.
4. Continue with the interview process to enter all of the appropriate information.

IRS Publication 970 Tax Benefits for Education has additional information regarding the taxable and nontaxable distributions.

Related Links

• IRS Instructions for Form 1099-Q

Note that any link in the information above is updated each year automatically and will take you to the most recent version of the document at the time it is accessed.