<p>My ex filed social security/disability and my son receives a monthly check from social security administration. He is a junior in high school but my daughter is a freshman in college. I have seen some posts say that I have to claim the monthly payment as untaxed other income and some say that I don't claim it at all because it is under my son's SSN. Has anyone found which is the true answer? This question applies to government aid as well as university aid so any input will be much appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>deleted - wrong information</p>
<p>SSI is not reported anywhere on the FAFSA for anyone in the family. </p>
<p>For regular social security payments: If they are taxed, they are included in the AGI already. If the social security payments are untaxed, the untaxed portion is not reported.</p>
<p>why do they need to know that for, when its the same as you getting or having no money. the federal and state governments can already find that info out with your social security number.</p>
<p>The federal government knows what you really reported for tax info, too. Try getting them to give that away to any other group, though. It’s not that easy …</p>
<p>Read through the college website for financial aid very carefully. We found that one school had a supplemental form that asked about taxed and untaxed SS benefits. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, please direct your question to the FAFSA people. I know of one case where the dependent of the disabled was NOT supposed to be reported but that was a couple of years ago and your case is slightly different (in that an “ex” is involved). Go directly to the FAFSA query/or info about the particular line item where it might be recorded. </p>
<p>They usually have comprehensive info about each line --and they get back fairly quickly on questions. </p>
<p>You don’t want to “guess” on this. If you guess wrong, it is not the college that suffers – it is your kid. </p>
<p>When the kid turns 18, the benefit will stop (unless the kid is still in high school in which case there will be a special set of forms to complete so the benefit continues until HS graduation). </p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>If it is social security (not disability) then it is not reported on FAFSA. My husband is retired and my daughter was receiving social security payments because of that. He first year of college we did have to report her SS and my husbands untaxed social security. The school made a special circumstances adjustment and removed he SS income as it stopped when she graduated high school. Then they changed the rules on FAFSA (last year) and now we do not have to report his untaxed SS. This is for Social Security, not disability payments.</p>
<p>From the FAFSA instructions at
[Completing</a> the FAFSA: Financial Aid from the U.S. Department of Education](<a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/completing_fafsa/index.html]Completing”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/completing_fafsa/index.html)
</p>
<p>Kelsmom in post #3 is a financial aid officer who deals with this all the time.</p>
<p>The above is for FAFSA. I do not know how CSS handles this, and schools with their own aid may have additional requirements.</p>
<p>So, the upshot is that nobody knows the answer to the OP’s question. She asked about social security disability income, not ssi or social security (the one people qualify for at age 62) . I have not been able to find an answer to this question either. It is absolutely beyond belief that the FAFSA does not address how you treat social security disability income, especially since so many people receive it.</p>
<p>My understanding is that SS Disability income is reported as untaxed income on FAFSA question 45i, untaxed SS pension income is not reported.
from [Your</a> Other Untaxed Income or Benefits](<a href=“http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1011/help/sahelp41s.htm]Your”>http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1011/help/sahelp41s.htm)
</p>
<p>Line 45i is for the student. </p>
<p>How is the parent’s ssdi treated? I can’t find that anywhere.</p>
<p>For line 93i, they do not make a distinction. They treat “disability” 100% differently than “Social Security benefits”, but make no attempt at all to clarify what you do with ssdi, which can logically fit into either categoy-- disability OR Social Security benefits:</p>
<hr>
<p>Enter the total amount of any other untaxed income or benefits that your parents received in 2009, such as workers compensation, Black Lung Benefits, untaxed portions of Railroad Retirement Benefits, disability, etc.</p>
<h1>Do not include student aid, earned income credit, child tax credit, welfare payments, untaxed Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income, Workforce Investment Act educational benefits, on-base military housing or military housing allowance, combat pay, benefits from flexible spending arrangements (for example: cafeteria plans), foreign income exclusion or credit for federal tax on special fuels.</h1>
<p>It is the non custodial parent receiving the disability income so that would not be reported on FAFSA either way. The OP was asking about the SS income the student receives because of that parent. I was confused about whether it is disability or regular SS.</p>
<p>It is all very confusing. From postings here from FA officers I have understood that disability is reportable, SS pension is not. Until last year it was all reportable, they have made it more confusing now (surprise!). The best thing the OP can do is first ask the FAFSA help line, but then verify with the FA officer at their school. In the end it is the FA officer who verifies the FAFSA data, so what they say is ultimately the final word.</p>
<p>I’m interested in how they treat the ssdi of the parent who lives in the household with the spouse and the children as dependents. This has to apply to many, many families. Its unbelievable that they don’t address this issue in a clear way. The only thing about asking someone at Fafsa is they they could answer incorrectly. I would rather trust the information that appears on the FAFSA website than info retrieved over the telephone or via e-mail. I will probably call them. What is the big secret, anyway? It should be spelled out on the FAFSA website. It is a straight-forward situation that applies to thousands of people. </p>
<p>Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, the clear answer to this question is not contained in the financial aid handbook. “Disability” that is untaxed is addressed. It must be reported. There is nothing that clearly addressed SS disability. I have google searched for it, and have found nothing. To be honest, my work-around has been that it has not made a difference in the EFC for any EFC I personally have verified. So I haven’t had to push the issue. I do work with a very low income population & the few SSDIs I have seen are Auto 0 EFC families. Maybe nikkiil has had to deal with this. You can pm her.</p>
<p>I too am a single mom and my daughter is getting a monthly payment of SSDI through my ex husband’s social security SSDI. I do not make a lot of money and if this is more than half of what I spend on my daughter than can she be declared independent instead of dependent? I am sorry if this is a stupid question but I am new to the ins and outs of FAFSA.</p>
<p>No, your D cannot be considered independent unless she can answer Yes to any of the dependency questions (you can find these by going to [FAFSA</a> - Free Application for Federal Student Aid](<a href=“http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/before015.htm]FAFSA”>http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/before015.htm)).</p>
<p>If your AGI is less than $30k AND you can file a 1040A or 1040EZ OR if you or someone in your family has received federal means tested benefits in the last 24 months (including free or reduced lunch) OR if you are a dislocated worker, you will have an Automatic 0 Expected Family Contribution. It doesn’t get any better than that for your D.</p>
<p>First, let me say that, for 09/10 FAFSA and beyond, untaxed SS benefits of any type (retirement or disability) are not reported for FAFSA. I confirmed this with the FAFSA people, and have filed accordingly and have been verified twice with no issues. </p>
<p>Anomom, rhe dependency rules for FAFSA are completely different than for tax reporting. If you are low income, it probably doesn’t matter whether she’s considered dependent or not…a 0 EFC is the same for independents as dependents and the only thing extra available to independent students is an additional $4K in loans. Unless she fits one of these criteria, she is a dependent student:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/062810EFCFormulaGuideUpdate1011.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/062810EFCFormulaGuideUpdate1011.pdf</a></p>
<p>OK guys Disability is benefits of short term or long term from your employer. SSDI or Social Security Disability is considered untaxed Social Security. You do not have to report SSDI as long as it is not taxed on the fFSFA as income. You do have to report any money from short term or long term disability because it is taxed income.</p>
<p>Also, some people receive payments from private disability insurance policies. These can be in addition to getting Social Security disability payments. My reading of the regulations is that money from private insurance would be reported, while the untaxed portion of Social Security Disability would not be reported. </p>
<p>Some people on here seem to be confusing Social Security Disability with SSI. SSI is a supplemental, means-tested government payment, while Social Security Disability is available to anyone who has worked enough years and is found to be legally disabled.</p>