FAFSA Filed Before 2011 Taxes - Question

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi,
I am wondering if someone can please explain to me how it works when you file your FAFSA application prior to filing your 2011 tax return?</p>

<p>I filed my 2011 tax return after I finished the FAFSA application. I have already received the SAR report back. </p>

<p>Do I need to do anything further to notify FAFSA that my taxes have now been completed and filed?</p>

<p>On my SAR report on line #79 "Parents Filed 2011 Income Tax Return" it says "Will File"</p>

<p>The 2011 dollar amounts where all correct, so there are no changes to be made to the FAFSA in that sense... I just need to know if FAFSA must be notified somehow that my taxes are now complete and if so, how do I go about doing that.</p>

<p>Thank you,
Liz</p>

2

<p>Go online and choose “correct __”. Then choose filed instead of will file and be sure everything else is ok. Then submit. All schools will get update.</p>

3

<p>OK, I can do that. </p>

<p>If I have more than ten schools do I need to do this for the other schools as well? or will all twelve get updated?</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<p>I submitted the FAFSA (saying “Will File”) with ten colleges.</p>

<p>I received the SAR report and then deleted the ten and added two more (Still with the “Will File” status. </p>

<p>So, should I now go into the FAFSA and change the “Will File” to “Have Filed” with the two colleges listed? </p>

<p>Then wait for ??? (not sure how I know when this goes through)</p>

<p>Then at what point do I go back into FAFSA delete the two colleges and then add back in the 10 colleges and submit again?</p>

<p>Sorry, this is all so confusing
Thank you,
Liz</p>

4

<p>That’s exactly the procedure I’m following (correcting in 2 batches). Seems to be the way from all I’ve read.</p>

5

<p>If I change the status to “Have Filed” for the first 2 how do I know when to resubmit the other 10? </p>

<p>Do i need to wait a specific amount of time after I change the status to “Have Filed” for the first two?</p>

<p>Or, do they send out a new SAR and then I put back the other 10?</p>

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<p>This year FAFSA will offer the IRS data retrieval tool which schools will want your to use when you change your filing status to have filed. This link is supposed to be available starting tomorrow, 2/1. They say that it takes about 2 weeks after you’ve actually filed your taxes (efile) for the link to work. So you may want to wait until this is available to do your corrections for the first batch of schools. If you don’t use the IRS retrieval method and are selected for verification then you’ll need to request a tax transcript from the IRS which could cause lengthier delays. Hope this helps!</p>

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<p>Lizander, after you submit corrections there’s a while before making corrections is available again. I’ve been assuming that once I’m allowed to make corrections the previous ones have been passed on, so I can change the school list and submit that “correction.”</p>

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<p>My understanding is if you need to " correction" later, then mark “will file”. If all numbers are accurate, mark “completed”. I called several colleges, told them that they might not find my tax return because it takes time to be processed, Most of them said ok.</p>

9

<p>Thank you to all who replied. I really appreciate the time you took to help me! :)</p>