Tax Information (Form 1098-T)

ESU partners with Heartland ECSI to provide your 1098-T by January 31st of each calendar year:

• ECSI offers electronic delivery of your 1098-T. Access ECSI for instructions on how to access your 1098-T.
• Otherwise, a paper copy will be mailed to your permanent address.

In previous years, your 1098-T included a figure in Box 2 that represented the qualified tuition and related expenses (QTRE) we billed to your student account for the calendar (tax) year. Due to a change mandated by the IRS to institutional reporting requirements under federal law, beginning with tax year 2018, we will report in Box 1 the amount of QTRE you paid during the year.

Depending on your income (or your family’s income, if you are a dependent), whether you were considered full or half-time enrolled, and the amount of your qualified educational expenses for the year, you may be eligible for a federal education tax credit. (You can find detailed information about claiming education tax credits in IRS Publication 970, page 9.)

The dollar amounts reported on your Form 1098-T may assist you in completing IRS Form 8863 – the form used for calculating the education tax credits that a taxpayer may claim as part of your tax return.

The benefits to receiving electronic notification are:

• Online delivery provides access to the form 1098-T earlier than the traditional mailing process.
• Online delivery eliminates the chance that the 1098-T will get lost, misdirected or delayed during delivery, or misplaced once the student receives it.
• Signing up for online delivery is easy and secure.
• Students can receive their 1098-T form while traveling or away from their home address.