college tuition deductions?

[Bewildered]

My 19 year old son is a freshman. I got a 1098-T for his
tuition.

His tuition is being paid out of a 529 in his name. (yeah,
that is a crappy way to do it, but there were good reasons
for it at the time.) He will not have significant income in
2006, though he will in 2007. I will have good income in
both years.

Can he take advantage of any deductions for his payments?
Can I? (I did not pay for anything except incidentals like
books.)

 

[Phil Marti]

My 19 year old son is a freshman. I got a 1098-T for his
tuition.

His tuition is being paid out of a 529 in his name. (yeah,
that is a crappy way to do it, but there were good reasons
for it at the time.) He will not have significant income in
2006, though he will in 2007. I will have good income in
both years.

Can he take advantage of any deductions for his payments?
Can I? (I did not pay for anything except incidentals like
books.)

Education tax benefits follow the student's dependency
exemption, unless no one claims the student's personal
exemption, in which case they go to the student.

You can't get a benefit from tax-free 529 distributions, and
books rarely count. See IRS Publication 970.