FAFSA and 2010 Taxes

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I'm looking for someone to shed some light .....</p>

<p>My son's ( twins ), started college in the 2010-2011 acedemic year at which time my income was used on their FAFSA application. Now that tax time is here, is there an obligation / law that they are claimed as dependants by the person whose income was used for the application. </p>

<p>The other option is that their mom claims them, ( we are divorced ). But their hardly ever there anyway.</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>If you’re divorced, the FAFSA for each child (they each have their own) should list the income/assets only for the parent they lived with the most. If that’s you, then your income and assets.</p>

<p>The rules for who gets to claim a dependent exemption on the tax forms are different, and you’d need to follow the IRS rules for that.</p>

<p>I can see situations where the dependency exemption isn’t claimed by the parent whose information goes on the FAFSA, and situations where neither parent can claim the dependency exemption, perhaps because the child earned more than half of their own support. </p>

<p>They’re two different sets of rules, and you need to follow each set separately; FAFSA rules for the FAFSA filing, IRS rules for your tax filing.</p>

<p>(Also, this would be better in the Financial Aid forum, because more folks who have real expertise are more likely to see it there.)</p>