<p>I filed my FAFSA in early January and said that my parents "will file" their 2013 tax return. Should I change it to "have filed" and update my forms? There are some discrepancies between my estimates and my parents' earnings. I'm worried! Please help! </p>
<p>Yes, if they have filed you need to change the status and update it. You can use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool on the fafsa site to do it depending on how long ago they filed. Was your fafsa selected for verification? Don’t worry about minor discrepancies, that’s why they are called estimates. How much were they off?</p>
<p>Yes. Update and resubmit.</p>
<p>It’s only one albeit significant discrepancy. Before my dad got his W2s, he estimated that the current value of his tax-deferred pensions payments etc… was about $26k, but when we received his 2013 W2s we found that they were all in health benefits, which the FAFSA explicitly said to not include, so the actual value, I believe, is 0. Does FAFSA take retirement pensions to account when determining the EFC? I know it needs to be fixed, but I don’t know how much it will affect my federal aid through loans. </p>
<p>Balances in formal retirement accounts shouldn’t be included in assets on fafsa. Contributions to retirement accounts in 2013 are asked for but you’re saying that was 0. </p>
<p>Yes–there were no contributions made to retirement accounts. </p>
<p>So assuming the AGI was about the same as your estimate, that would reduce your fafsa EFC.</p>