I am a senior of HS and need to file FAFSA in a couple of weeks for college application. My dad and I immigrated the USA (legal permanent resident) at the end of last year, so he doesn’t have any record in IRS yet. My mom stays overseas, she is not a US legal resident. In filing FAFSA, how should I file, as my father did not have any income in last year? He is not yet set up his IRS account. My dad has a job for a few months in 2018, so his income is limited. My mom has income with working overseas in 2017, but without any IRS record, as she pays the tax of my hometown. In filing FAFSA, I think my our household is “3” with my dad as head of household. Moreover, how should I input for my mom’s income, before tax or after tax, as my hometown tax rate is different from USA? Please advice for such profile. Thanks in advance.
It is okay if your father had no income in 2017. One of the options is ‘didn’t file, and do not intend to file’. The IRS will confirm this; he needs to file for a tax transcript and his SSN will show up as didn’t file. They will ask why and the answer is because he did not have income.
You can convert your mother’s earnings (and any your father had in any other countries) into US dollars and report that amount.
And a reminder that for the 2019-2020 FAFSA, you will be using 2017 income information.
Thanks for the replies. I would like to clarify that, if I need to file for my college application os 2019 Fall, my parents should report their income information for the year of 2017. Then, as my mom doesn’t have SSN, how should she file in FAFS? Also, is that her income level should be before tax amount? BTW, any website can provide estimation on my parent actual contribution for my college?
You report the earnings before paying taxes. There is another question on the form about how much was paid in taxes.
If your father has a SSN, he can apply for the FSA ID and be the parent who completes the fAFSA. Your mother’s income can be added.
There are some forms pinned to the top of the forum you can use to figure out your estimated family contribution, but that will only tell you what type of government grants you can expect. There is no guarantee that schools will give you more.
You should enter your mom’s income as the U.S. equivalent of whatever she earned. Go to https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/filling-out/parent-info#noncitizen-guidance for more information.