<p>My question is are there any benefits from not filing your taxes if you worked your high school senior year? I know you are not required to file if you made below a certain limit but will fafsa need to know how much you made even if you complete it as "will not file". And if i decided to file (i dont have to because i only grossed 4000 in 2012) would i have to report it to fafsa since i am eligible to not file and then wouldnt have to report it?</p>
<p>Really all I'm asking should i file my taxes or not in order to get the most aid possible?</p>
<p>You are legally required to report your income on FAFSA whether you file a tax return or not. However, a dependent student has around $6000 in protected income before it affects their EFC. If your income is $4000 it will not affect your EFC. You still have to report it on FAFSA, but it will not impact your EFC.</p>
<p>If you had any taxes deducted, you should file to get them refunded to you as you did not earn enough to have a tax liability.</p>
<p>There are no real benefits to not filing a tax return (unless you can’t seem to complete it yourself and have to pay someone else to do it for you). If you had any withholding, you need to file to get them refunded. You do still need to report both your income and you assets on the FAFSA, and you may need to send a copy of your W2 to the financial aid offices, to verify you income, so do keep that in your files.</p>
<p>thanks so much those are pretty good answers. the main thing was that i didnt want my income to affect my EFC. I will report and the file when I get my W2</p>