CSS profile: online store self employment?

Paying for College
1

My mom has an online store on Etsy. she started her business in 2015 and had lost income (-2000). We filed a C schedule and reported this on our tax return. She is mainly just a homemaker, her shop on Etsy was really a hobby and she didn’t spend much time on it. Now, my question is this: should I mark her as self-employed or homemaker in the CSS profile?

In CSS, it asks 2 times about parent self-employment and I don’t know if I should put my mom as homemaker or not???

Also, what should I put where it asks How many businesses, corporations, or partnerships do the student’s parent(s) own all or part of? Is an online shop that didn’t have any income for my mom considered a business?

2

I’m not an expert here…but if she filed a schedule C wouldn’t that mean she is self employed?

3

Hobby or business? You say that “her shop on Etsy was really a hobby and she didn’t spend much time on it,” and yet she filed a Schedule C. There’s a conflict here.

4

You still have to file a schedule C even if it was a hobby and you didn’t make that much. every money that you make or lose must be reported to IRS.

5

My point is that one engages in a hobby not for the purpose of making a profit, while making a profit is generally the goal of any business.

6

what I meant for hobby was that this is not her full time job. She only spends about 3 hours a day on it. But still, is the online store considered a business that she owns?

7

She may have filed C only to declare the loss. OP can call one or more of her target colleges and ask. But I think filing that means the die is cast. It will show up on copies of her taxes and is reflected in her bottom line. I’ll be interested to see how this develops. Btw, we’re past the days of finaid, but I don’t even get tax forms from Amazon, I sell under the threshold.