<p>I was trying to fill out the form, but my problem is that I don't know what numbers to type. I am a US citizen, but my parents are not. What do I put in the blanks for Adjusted Gross Income? </p>
<p>I have looked on pages that explain how you compute it, but I don't understand it!! A little translation into simple English would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to the complete FAFSA instructions for 2010/2011, which should answer your questions:</p>
<p>[Completing</a> the FAFSA: Financial Aid from the U.S. Department of Education](<a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/completing_fafsa/index.html]Completing”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/completing_fafsa/index.html)</p>
<p>Do your parents live and work in the US and file U.S. tax returns? If so, the line number for AGI differs between forms but is always called “Adjusted Gross Income”. If not, I believe you have to use a currency exchange calculator and the IRS website to figure out what their AGI would be in USD. If they are not required to file/pay taxes in the country they reside in, I’m pretty sure their income is just reported as untaxed income. If you care to provide more specific info, others can probably give you more exact answers.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>I don’t have any of the numbers since my parents only file taxes to Japan(They are Japanese citizens).</p>
<p>My mother stays at home right now after some trouble at work last year, and my father is employed at a local business.</p>
<p>How should I fill the form out?</p>
<p>Are you filling out a FAFSA for enrollment for college in fall 2011? If so, that one won’t be available for filling out and filling until January 1, 2011. The one that is available for filing now is the 2010-2011 FAFSA but that is for the current school year.</p>
<p>When the time comes, you convert your parents’ earnings and taxes into U.S. Dollars and enter those amounts on the appropriate lines.</p>
<p>I was looking through what questions that I would have to answer. I know that I would have to convert their income to dollars. </p>
<p>My problem is that I don’t know which number to convert!</p>
<p>Are your parents required to file a tax form/pay taxes in Japan? If so, you will put income earned from work for the question about how much was earned from work. Then for AGI, you would put the adjusted income on which the Japanese taxes are based (look at a U.S. 1040 and you can get an idea of what I mean). For taxes paid, this would be the line on the Japanese tax return that indicates how much taxes are actually owed to the government. I don’t know how their tax system works, but in the U.S., people have taxes withheld from their paychecks … at the end of the year, when they fill out a tax return, they find out how much tax they actually owe for the year after any other income & allowable deductions (again, look at a 1040 to see what I mean). On the 1040, income from work is line 7 (and line 12, if there is business income). Adjusted Gross Income is line 37, and taxes paid is line 55.</p>
<p>If your parents do not file a tax return/pay income taxes in Japan, they just report the amount of income earned on the line that asks for Income earned from work (no amounts on AGI or taxes paid lines).</p>
<p>All numbers should be converted from yen to the U.S. dollar as of the day you signed your FAFSA. Conversion calculators are readily available on the internet.</p>