CSS Income earned from work?

Paying for College
1

<p>I'm using the book Paying For College Without Going Broke while filling out CSS Profile. The book says that for questions on the FAFSA asking for 'income earned from work', you should INCLUDE pre-tax wage income that was put into tax-deferred retirement accounts. (pg. 76) I am wondering if I should also do that for the CSS Profile? My first thought is NOT to include it on question PI-155 and PI-160 because in question PI-190 it asks for the amount of payments to tax-deferred pension and savings plans, and am wondering if it will get double counted if I put the $ in both areas. Any ideas? Thanks!</p>

2

<p>For line PI-155
Use this parent’s 2011 pay stubs or W-2 Forms, if available, or refer to the 2010 federal
income tax return. Earned income can be found on:
· lines 7 + 12 + 18 of Form 1040, plus any amount from Box 14 (Code A) of Schedule
K-1 (Form 1065)
· line 7 of Form 1040A
· line 1 of Form 1040EZ
If filing a joint return, estimate this parent’s share of the combined total</p>

<p>Since your 401(k)/retirement accounts are in Box 12 of the W2 they are NOT included as income in this line. Here is a link for line by line description
<a href=“http://www.tuitioncoach.com/collegecost/pdf/cssProfile.pdf[/url]”>http://www.tuitioncoach.com/collegecost/pdf/cssProfile.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;