I left my job at the end of 2015 in a buyout, and after 2 months of severance in 2016, I have been completely self-employed. I’m trying to fill out the CSS Profile, and it asks if I am self-employed or employed (and if employed, where and how any years there.)
I know this form draws on tax info for 2015 – so do I answer as if I am still employed at the job I had in 2015? Or answer with my current self-employed status?
Any help appreciated!
Answer the questions with the appropriate status as of the day you complete the form.
Thanks SO much, @BelknapPoint – I was hoping that was the case. When your financial situation is totally different for 2015, 2016 and 2017, it is easy to get confused!
On the profile, theee is a place for additional information. You can put the description of what happened there. Otherwise, the school might end up looking for a business schedule in 2015…which you don’t have.
@thumper1 Good idea. Yes, we will have a lot of explaining to do in that section. I figured I would also have to send a letter to each college FA office with details of our situation but I didn’t realize until I started CSS just how confusing it was.
I don’t know if @thumper or @BelknapPoint or any other CSS experts are still up but I’m running into some confusion on questions about estimating income & benefits for 2016 and 2017. They ask:
*Enter the amount of income parent expects to earn from work
*Enter the amount of other taxable income and benefits your parents expect to receive
*Enter the amount of untaxed income and benefits your parents expect to receive [which seems to include IRA contributions]
All of our income for 2016 will be freelance (taxed via estimated tax payments), and probably the same for 2017. Should this go under the 1st category – does “work” mean waged and freelance income? Or is it a trick question and freelance income would go in one of the other slots? Sorry, my brain is now officially fried.
Self-employment income would be reported as “income parent expects to earn from work.”
Other taxable income and benefits would include things like interest and dividend income.
Use the worksheets to help figure the untaxed income and benefits. This includes pre-tax contributions to retirement plans such as a 401(k) or 403(b), and also IRA, SEP, SIMPLE or Keough contributions that will be claimed as a tax deduction.