Hi, I am really confused about D’s income for the FAFSA (and for filing). I thought I understood but as I am doing it I realize I’m pretty unsure.
How do I calculate her AGI?
W2 wages were $1200. Tuition & Room and Board are covered with school funding and Pell/State. If her R&B is about 13K and all was reported on her statement for 2015 (though half was for the 2016 Spring Semester), does that mean her AGI is $14200, for the purposes of the FAFSA and 1040? In reviewing the 1040 I’ll assume I have to add the scholarship amounts to the Wages, Salaries, etc line, which seems odd to me.
^Yes, your daughter has wages of 1200 & taxable scholarship of 13000 (covered R&B); all of them enter on line 7 of Form 1040. Don’t forget the form 8615 “Tax for Certain Children Who Have Unearned Income”
In this situation, could the student elect to count half of the scholarship that goes to room and board as income in 2016 instead of 2015? After all, only half of the benefit will be used in 2015, with the remainder actually used in 2016. I understand that it all gets taxed eventually, but with 2015 income counting two years in a row for FAFSA, if she is able to push half of that room and board amount to the tax year when it actually benefits her, that would be good.
^But your daughter received the scholarship in 2015, if she can’t use all the scholarship on the 2015 qualified expenses, the remaining of scholarship would become taxable in 2015.
If the daughter was given a check in 2015 for the full amount of the scholarship, including the part that covers 2016 room and board expenses, I agree that the full amount is income in 2015. However, if the scholarship is paid to or by the school and credited against the expenses as they become due, that is a different matter, because some of the expenses are not incurred until 2016.
The taxable scholarship income would initially be reported on line 7 of 1040 with SCH and the amount printed next go line, added to the work income amount, to arrive at the AGI.
But for FAFSA it asks in question 44 d of student section about amount of scholarships and grants included in AGI.
When was scholarship received, applied to account?
Did you subtract total of tuition, fees and books from all scholarship, grant money before arriving at taxable amount?
@mommdc Thanks. I didn’t subtract everything yet to get to an exact figure, but I will. The scholarships were all applied to her account in December, except for the Pell Grant. I am going to assume that the 1098t will show everything except the Pell in 2015. That doesn’t seem to be a problem for EFC though. Since they specifically ask what was aid…am I correct?
Is her 1098T available in her student portal? You could also ask the school if everything for fall 15 and spring 16 will show up on the 1098T for 2015.
Yes, as far as I know, the taxable scholarship amount that was reported as part of AGI will be subtracted from student income for FAFSA.
That is correct - you have to indicate how much of the income reported on the 1040 was from taxable scholarships - do not report the whole amount of scholarships, just the taxable portion - and that is removed from the income for the EFC calculation.
Last year there was the option of including Spring 2015 costs in the 2014 taxes (because the school billed them in Dec and applied SOME of the FA) or 2015. For my daughter some were included in the 2014 1098 and some weren’t, so I excluded all 2015 scholarships and tuition, etc., carrying it over to 2015 taxes. I have no idea how the school hands it and if the amount will be included on the 1098 for 2015. I kept the records so I could include all 2015 amounts on 2015 taxes.