I’m asking because in my junior year I had a job working in a supermarket to support my family because of a financial problem in our family. The thing is that the manager of the supermarket was one of my dad’s friends so he let me work without w2s and payed me in cash. Because of that I got no tax returns (I made about 2k in total).
A counsler at school told me that I didn’t have to list that job I my financial aid forms because it didn’t count as a “work” because I didn’t have any papers. But now I’m kind of paranoid because I mentioned in my app that my grades dropped a bit in my junior year due to family tensions, and mentioned my job.
Oh no, I am applying for other aid too but I was worrying because I think on merit aid they compare your application to your financial forms like fafsa and stuff so they can see this. On fafsa it did ask for my income but I put zero because my CC told me it didnt matter.
It does matter. If you earned about $2k in 2015, you should have reported that on the 2017-2018 FAFSA as student income. Go back to your school counselor and ask that person what the term “financial aid fraud” means.
Hint: it can be a criminal offense punishable by a fine and/or jail time.
The immediate problem is not a tax return, it’s that OP apparently failed to report student income when completing FAFSA. There is no minimum threshold for reporting student income on FAFSA.
Under the scenario that OP describes, there may be self-employment tax due (since there were no FICA withholdings from wages). That requires significantly less earnings than the requirement for paying income taxes.
Well…it looks like you are not required to file a return for 2015 as you earned less than $400. You can amend your FAFSA to include your $400 2015 earnings. Then you will complete a non-filers statement…saying you were not required to file.
For 2016…file your taxes. Your income will be self employed income.
@TMN, it appears you will be fine. If your FAFSA parent only earned $18k, it won’t matter what you earned. You may live in a state where the FAFSA does ask for student income and assets even if the parent’s income qualifies for auto $0 or Simplified Assets, but your info doesn’t change the federal EFC. Did you receive an EFC of $0? If not, and your parent’s income is really $18k, check to see if you made a mistake entering info.
Just go back into your FAFSA and make the correction. If you are selected for verification, you’ll need to get a statement of non-filer from the IRS. There is a form to submit to the IRS, or sometimes the school will just take the signed statement that you weren’t required to file.
Don’t take tax advice from your high school guidance counselor.