<p>I promise I have read every post having to do with this subject. I still do not understand. Someone help?</p>
<p>I am a widow. My daughter, now a HS junior, receives survivor benefits that are deposited into MY account. And I am the one who gives an annual accounting to the IRS about the disposition of these funds. My daughter will receive this benefit until she turns 18, which will be AFTER we fill out financial aid forms next year. Given this set up, here are some questions:</p>
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<li><p>It's my understanding this untaxed money does not need to be reported on FAFSA.</p></li>
<li><p>In any case, this is not a student asset because, while my daughter is a minor, I am her "fiduciary" (I grabbed this word from someone else's post; makes me sound important).</p></li>
<li><p>Though I do not have to report it on FAFSA, I may need to report on the CSS PROFILE? This is where I get fuzzy. My assumption is that, in any case, we would report it as funds available to me in my role as head of household, rather than as money that my child is in control of. </p></li>
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<p>When I did a mock institutional method calculation, my head started to spin. I plugged the SS survivor benefit amount into the student part, which seemed to skew the EFC way high. Bottom line: I will have, in my role as fiduciary, spent (or saved) that money as I've seen fit. So it really ought not to be part of the calculation for what my child brings to the table? Yes?</p>
<p>Why am I thinking about this now? I should be in bed. Help!</p>
<p>SS benefits go on the child’s calculation, unless you are receiving your own benefits for being the caregiver of a child under 16. I wasn’t because I made too much money. But my kids continued to receive theirs.</p>
<p>Also, it will end after HS graduation (or age 18, whichever is later) so it only comes into play for the first year of college.</p>
<p>Thanks, susgeek. That makes sense. And, actually, when I did the calculation adding that money to my income, it made the EFC look even worse. Like you, I have not received any benefits in my own name.</p>
<p>Thanks, entomom. Even better. I have been obsessing about this since I started playing around with EFC calculators last night. All of a sudden it hit me that I would be paying for college with real (not Monopoly) money!</p>
<p>When a parent recieves survivor benefits as the custodian of a child (benefits are for the child, under the age of 18), the benefits are reported to the IRS under the child’s social security number. The base amount for a single taxpayer is $25,000. If the child’s only income is the Social Security survivors benefits, he or she would not owe any tax or be required to file a tax return. </p>
<p>When you are ready to fill out the FAFSA form, you would report what is on your tax returns and your child’s tax returns. Again, if the child has no other income, there would be no tax return filed and the survivor benefits would not be reported. </p>
<p>When you are ready to fill out the CSS, there is a section for “Special Circumstances.” Under that section, you would need to do two things; 1) explain that the child’s parent has passed away and therefore the “non-custodial profile” will not be submitted and 2) explain that your child currently receives survivor benefits, but upon high school graduation, or age 19 (whichever comes first) your child will no longer recieve the benefit. In addition, you need to contact your local social security office and have them provide you with a letter, on letterhead, stating when your child’s benefits will end and when the last check will be received.</p>
<p>Finally, contact the financial aid offices of the colleges that your child is applying to, tell them that you have a letter from Social Security regarding the termination of survivor benefits and find out if they need anything else. Usually the letter will be enough.</p>
<p>Hope this helps - I just went through it and I know if can be confusing.</p>
<p>^^^ I agree with the basis of what you say, that SS survivor benefits received by a student are not taxed and are not reported on either FAFSA or Profile. However, I don’t agree with how you reached your conclusions.</p>
<p>These benefits are not reported on taxes because they are by definition untaxed, even if a student had other income above reportable level, they would still not report their SS Survivor benefits as taxable income.</p>
<p>So untaxed SS survivor benefits are not reported on the FAFSA irrespective of the student’s tax return status.</p>
<p>Finally, I don’t think it’s as complicated as stated for the Profile. I don’t believe one needs to fill out the Special Circumsatances section or get a letter from SS. </p>
<p>The relevant parts of the Profile are, for Parental Income:</p>
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</p>
<p>for Student Income:</p>
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<p>So seems clear that SS survivor benefits received either by the parent for the student (under 18) or directly by the student (over 18) should NOT be reported anywhere on the Profile. However, SS survivor benefits for siblings do need to be reported under Parents Income. </p>
<p>It is my experience, with one kid who just graduated from college and the other a fr this fall, that I have never been questioned about why a non-custodial parent Profile form was not submitted, even though I file as HOH, not widow; nor have I been asked for a letter from SS.</p>