My grand daughter is going to college next year. She has no father and her mother is paralyzed by an accident. Their only income is ssi. Does her mom need to file income tax to fill out a fafsa form
no.
No…but the mom probably will need to complete a non-filers statement for the colleges.
If she is not otherwise required to file a tax return, she can list her income and assets on the FAFSA without doing the IRS import tool. The school your granddaughter attends may ask for a verification of nonfiling as part of the process. It may be a good idea to go ahead and request this early and have it ready. Fall 2018 student financial aid is based on 2016 taxes, so the IRS will be able to certify you did not file a 2016 return right now.