• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Personal Finance for PhDs

Live a financially balanced life - no Real Job required

  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Tax Center
  • PhD Home Loans
  • Work with Emily
  • About Emily Roberts

Where to Report Your Grad Student Income on Your Tax Return

February 21, 2016 by Emily

There are two broad categories of grad student income: employee income and awarded income. Both types of pay are supposed to be reported in the ‘wages’ line on your tax return, Form 1040 Line 1. Read on for the relevant tax code references.

Where to Report Employee Income

Employee income comes from work and is reported on a Form W-2. Assistantships, whether research, teaching or graduate, provide the grad student with employee income. Postdocs often hold employee positions as well. This type of grad student and postdoc income is the same to the IRS as employee income from other sources.

Your gross yearly employee income will appear in Form W-2 Box 1, and the income tax that has been withheld from you pay will appear in Box 2 (federal), Box 17 (state), and Box 19 (local).

Form W-2 contains instructions for the employee (p. 7):

reporting_W2i

Where to Report Non-Compensatory Grad Student Income

Non-compensatory income is given as an award and is not in exchange for work. Scholarships and most fellowships are forms of non-compensatory work. Non-compensatory pay will be officially reported to the student on a 1098-T in box 5 or on a 1099-MISC in box 3. It also might be unofficially reported on a courtesy letter or not at all.

Please note that when you calculate the taxable portion of your non-compensatory income for the year, you have two choices for what to do with your qualified education expenses: to take a deduction or a credit.

Scholarship and fellowship income that is reported anywhere other than on a W-2 or not reported at all should also be added to the ‘wages’ line on your tax return alongside the letters SCH.

reporting_taxfree

The Wages Line on the 1040

The 1040 instructions dictate that W-2 income should be reported in line 7 (p. 21):

reporting_1040_W2

Publication 970 says that fellowship and scholarship income should be reported in line 7 (p. 7):

reporting_1040_SCH

The Wages Line on the 1040A

The 1040A instructions dictate that W-2 income should be reported in line 7 (p. 23):

reporting_1040A_W2

Publication 970 says that fellowship and scholarship income should be reported in line 7 (p. 7):

reporting_1040A_SCH

The Wages Line on the 1040EZ

The 1040EZ instructions dictate that W-2 income should be reported in line 1 (p. 10):

reporting_1040EZ_W2

Publication 970 says that fellowship and scholarship income should be reported in line 7 (p. 6):

reporting_1040EZ_SCH

Parent post: Grad Student Income Tax Guide: 2015 Edition

We at Personal Finance for PhDs are not tax professionals, and none of the content in this section should be taken as advice for tax purposes.

 

Receive Your Tax "Cheat Sheet"

Subscribe to the Personal Finance for PhDs mailing list for essential information to help funded US graduate students (citizens/residents) with their federal tax returns

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by Kit

Filed Under: Taxes Tagged With: tax guide

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. I Learn Something New about Taxes Every Year - Evolving Personal Finance | Evolving Personal Finance says:
    April 18, 2016 at 7:50 pm

    […] fellowship income […]

  2. Weird Tax Situations for Fully Funded Grad Students - Personal Finance for PhDs says:
    February 12, 2018 at 9:26 am

    […] Further reading: Where to Report Your Grad Student Income on Your Tax Return […]

  3. How to Prepare Your Grad Student Tax Return - Personal Finance for PhDs says:
    April 9, 2018 at 2:24 pm

    […] Further reading: Where to Report Your Grad Student Income on Your Tax Return […]

  4. Weird Tax Situations for Fellowship Recipients - Personal Finance for PhDs says:
    January 25, 2019 at 9:45 am

    […] Where to Report Your Grad Student Income on Your Tax Return (applies for non-student fellows as well) […]

  5. How to Work with a Tax Preparer when You Have Fellowship and/or Scholarship Income - Personal Finance for PhDs says:
    April 11, 2019 at 8:57 am

    […] net scholarship/fellowship income should be added into the rest of your household wage income in Line 7 of your 1040, and “SCH” should be written next to it (possibly with that net scholarship/fellowship […]

Footer

Sign Up for More Awesome Content

I'll send you my 2,500-word "Five Ways to Improve Your Finances TODAY as a Graduate Student or Postdoc."

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by Kit

Copyright © 2025 · Atmosphere Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

  • About Emily Roberts
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact