<p>Hi! I am a international student applying for financial aid. I have trouble because my parents are both self employed which
makes things a lot complicated. Hope you can give me some advice...</p>
<p>on the Parents' Income & Benefits (PI) section the first question, Enter the wages, salaries, commissions, and tips your parents received during their country's most recent tax year, is a problem.
My parents are both self employed so I don't know if I should put this as 0 or not. My country does not have a tip system and I thought other information about their income can be replied in the third question where they ask the net income of business.
Oh and also regarding net income, my parents were both unemployed in 2012 and started new in 2013. So both my parents tax shows minuses since we did not have a surplus in our income. Do we write 0 for net income if this happens? </p>
<p>My family was quite well of 5years ago but had quite a difficulty through 5 years so should I explain this in the additional section? If I should, how should I say it? </p>
<p>Finally My parents both have their own business. But in the business section I can only put one business. Where can I put my parents second business? </p>
<p>Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>Don’t you add up the totals of the businesses? I think what the main purpose of these forms is to figure out how much money your family earns. So how much did they get last year? They didn’t live on just air, you know Or did they just live on their assets and not make a penny. What the forms want to know, bottom line, is how much money they made in income and from all other sources. Then they want to know how much in assets as of the day they fill out the form, do they have, including some value for the businesses. A book of business even without inventory and physical assets does have a value, and is usually assessed by how much money it can bring in. </p>
<p>So what you are saying is that they got a big fat zero in income last year, and in fact paid more in taxes than they earned? Usually, in such cases, there are tax deductions and depreciations in effect that are added back in. But if for whatever reason, they paid out more taxes than they earned, yes, you put down a zero. No negatives. No less than zero. </p>
<p>For businesses, schools generally will add back deductions and depreciations that are taken on taxes. They will then also come up with a figure on what the business should be worth. Yes, you can tell them that your family has been having a difficult time this past year. Really, 2013 is where the focus will be.</p>
<p>It’s complicated for US students whose families have businesses too, and sometimes hard to predict how the school will evaluate them. But it all comes down to what the income was in 2013, and what the assets are today in order to come up with a figure that the school will expect you and your family to pay.</p>