Dad wont file taxes, what can I do about my FASFA

Paying for College
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<p>I’m sorry. If the guy is not filing his taxes, turn him in anonymously to the IRS. Even if he has no tax liability he needs to file. He is basically stealing from the rest of us in the US and that is not cool at all. I don’t like the system as it is either, but ‘them’s the rules’.</p>

<p>Sorry that you have to endure the consequences of his misbehavior, but the only way to fix is to have him face the consequences himself. Listen to cptofthehouse for advice on working through the more immediate problem.</p>

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<p>Torveaux, he’s a small business owner. He very likely files his taxes. He’s under the spotlight and likely has a lot of deductions and such, so it’s essential he does so. It takes a while anyways for the IRS to get around to non filers. He’s probably on extension. It’s probably a huge pain in a neck for him to get the taxes done, waits to the very last minute, and will probably owe with interest and penalties. And he has no liability to pay if he doesn’t owe. I’ve yet to see a sanction on a non owing, non filer. </p>

<p>The other thing is that I don’t think he is new to all of this. I just skimmed earlier threads as I don’t like going back and researching posters, and try to keep each thread intact with all info right there,but given I was so harsh with this OP, I went to see what the back story here was. </p>

<p>OP has a brother in college. At Penn State. Dad also went to college, at least some college, maybe at SRU. So he knows what to do and has done it before. The problem is that THINGS HAVE CHANGED. It has only been recently that the IRS retrieval tool has been available, and in such wide spread use, and verification has become something done right away as a result. It wasn’t that long ago that verification requests did not come until well into the next year, and few FAFSAs were so verified. Now that it’s so easy to do, the schools are asking for it a s part of the process, and they want it right away especially for the first year kids. Often once a student is verified, it doesn;t happen again unless there is a significant change in the numbers. </p>

<p>OP do let your father know about that fact that the data retrieval is so immediate and direct now that the schools are requiring the returns be filed on time and even early and won’t release fund in some cases, and will give away fin aid packages if compliance isn’t met on a timely basis.</p>

<p>I really hate to bring this up with the OP facing so much here, but your aid is likely to go WAY down in a year or so when your brother graduates. You are currently getting PELL and PA low income funds with TWO kids in college. Once your brother is out, your father’s EFC is going to double. Also, I suggest you spend down your $2K in savings and replace it slowly with your Work study money so that ALL you money sitting there when you fill out FAFSA next year is from financial aid and does not count towards your EFC. A $2K asset in YOUR name generates an automatic $400 EFC right from the get go. Once you replace the money in there with WS, be aware, that what comes out is the new protected amount. You have to keep a paper trail in case you are audited. </p>

<p>Find out if your mother will cooperate and if her EFC is low enough for better aid or as good aid. Being in college this year, it’s not like you have to spend much time with either parent to get to pick the custodial one, if you plan ahead. </p>

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<p>^good points for anyone who reads the thread. Sometimes parents who’ve gone through the process think they know how it works and don’t realize things have changed.
And having a child in college or two changes need-based financial aid awards (but not merit aid).</p>

<p>Fortunately for OP, her brother graduated this year, so the financial aid won’t change.</p>

<p>Well, correct that: it may change, since OP will be living at her mother’s during break (or commute from there for as long as her mother lets her stay, if she chooses the commuting school) so the mother will become the custodial parent. Apparently the mother will cooperate. However it’s unclear how much the mother makes and how that would affect financial aid. If the mother makes more than the father, then financial aid would go down. On the other hand if the mother is willing to pay some contribution rather than put it all on Op’s shoulders.</p>

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<p>Also, you need to talk to your brother. He went through this with your Dad for years and he may be able to give you some tips. You have unnecessarily flamed your father with insistence on your college preferences and talking about your mother, knowing that those things anger him. Very foolish. Even though he may give you little in the way of money and won’t pay for college, you NEED his FAFSA info to get ANY financial aid, and that roof over your head is worth about $10K a year. There are kids whose parents have stuck it to them on both counts, and they have to wing it and go to college part time as they work full and part time That is the average college student. GOing away to sleep away college is a luxury for the privileged minority.</p>

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<p>I have been in close contact w. my brother, he too has done this alone and even when it came to aid & scholarships my dad did not want to give any info. (my brother actually lived w. his grand parents – he is my half brother so we have different grand parents). My brother worked 3-4 jobs every summer just to afford Main. </p>

<p>I actually considered the IRS thing since he is just being so shady about it rolling his eyes saying it will get in. As for his “business” he flies people in his own helicopter and they just pay him there kind of thing. He has been known not to file taxes before. </p>

<p>My dad doesn’t understand the process he attended SRU and his college was paid for him by a family friend. As for my brother he didn’t help at all. It was like pulling teeth to get him to fill out the FASFA so maybe he thought he could get away w. estimates and listing it as will file and never put the real data in.</p>

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<p>I don’t know when your brother went to college…but colleges using the data retrieval tool and expecting to do so…is relatively new. </p>

<p>If your dad owns a business, and applied for an extension, reporting him to the IRS will do you no good. He has not violated any regulations…yet.</p>

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<p>he is in his last year at Penn State so 4th maybe 5th year. I don’t think he knows about that.</p>

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<p>

Sounds like many opportunities to not declare income. Is that what he does? </p>

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<p>The way I read this originally is not that the tax filing is deferred, but that the guy regularly does not file his taxes. Reporting him will do some good if that is the case. May not help in the short term, but sometimes you have to do the right thing even if it hurts someone you love.</p>