<p>hey guys
The book, Paying for Colleges, says that if your family business has fewer than 100 full time employees, you don't have to write down the net worth for it. So if that's the case, can I write "0" for both questions 88 and 89 of FAFSA if the business is the only investment my parents have? </p>
<p>Our family business has 0 employees other than my parents themselves...</p>
<p>Question 88 asks for the net worth of my parent's current investments
Question 89 asks for the net worth of my parent's current business and or/investment farms</p>
<p>yes you could put a "0" for the net worth of the parent's current business. however question 88 i think is referring to any stocks, bonds, and the like.</p>
<p>What kind of business? Tell us more and we'll endeavor to assist you</p>
<p>If it is a legitimate business with a business account for cash flow, then I believe you would not "declare it" That would be paying things like office expenses, advertising, inventory, etc</p>
<p>If your parents are retired, independently wealthy, and manage their own stock portfolio, then no, you cannot leave the holdings off, as far as I know. I suppose you could call the toll free number and see what they say, if you do that, post the answer.</p>
<p>It's a small family business (retail shop) that is on the verge of closing.
If I look at the Form 1120, the business has cash, inventories, other assets, other investmnents, and buildings and other depreciable assets for its assets. Under the Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity, we also have common stock listed. This is all the investments my parents have. Do I have to mention them even if they are part of our business which currently generates no profit and has fewer than 100 employees? </p>
<p>Am I still being unclear? Please tell me if you need any other information in order to help me out =]. Your help would truly be appreciated !! Thank you.</p>
<p>OMG, thank you so much for bringing this up!! My DH's business is a sole proprietorship, he is the only employee and I had no idea how to value it. Now I know!!</p>
<p>The investments that need to be discussed in 88 are investments outside of the business your family owns. So, for example, if they had mutual funds or owned three shares of Microsoft, you would value them there.</p>
<p>If the family business is a corporation, and your parents are the shareholders of that corporation, you do not have to write down the value. I would not put 0 for question 89, but skip it (if it allows you to do so).</p>
<p>Thank you guys for your help.
Wow, My family is extremely poor then....
Our car, phone, computer, etc are all under the business so they are not even counted as our assets...
I don't know if this is a good thing...but I'm sure there are people who are poorer than us...</p>
<p>Anyways, thank you guys so much ! CCers are awesome as always =]</p>
<p>I am not an expert, but if it is a sole proprietorship, how does the business "own" the stocks etc and not the individual? This is a genuine question.</p>
<p>I think it would look fishy if you put "$0" under current investments. </p>
<p>Someone above stated the CSS Profile is different. We already completed the CSS and I did put a value on our business but also denoted in the extra space provided that it was a 100% sole proprietorship. Should I have put 0 for the worth on the CSS?</p>
<p>FAFSA no longer counts the value of the business but Profile does count it. I would think the stocks & business investments would be held under title in the name of the business, perhaps a DBA account, or would show the interest income on schedule C for years? </p>
<p>Other assets & investments is interesting- what investments would be pertinent to a small retail business. Also interesting is the building- if it is a store which owns a building, you do not declare it on FAFSA< if the store closes and your family now owns the building it becomes a sellable and declarable asset?? Might want to keep that store open!</p>
<p>If it's a Schedule C corporation, your parents would "own" the business by owning the stock. That stock isn't the same as if one owns stock in IBM.</p>
<p>I am not buying this loophole, especially for profile schools. A losing business owns real estate and stock? They are hardly dumb and know how to find every cent. If it's not a corporation, it has to all flow through the parents' taxes.</p>
<p>This doesn't apply to Profile schools. In fact, Profile schools generally require the Business Supplement which is a royal pain to fill out.</p>
<p>Not reporting the value of the business applies to FAFSA only. And remember, the "dividends" on the stock and the salaries paid from the business are reported as income on FAFSA. Just not the business value.</p>
<p>"I am not buying this loophole, especially for profile schools. A losing business owns real estate and stock? They are hardly dumb and know how to find every cent. If it's not a corporation, it has to all flow through the parents' taxes."</p>
<p>It's the business assets that don't need to be reported, not the portion of the business income that flows to the parents who own the business.</p>
<p>As to the above post, even if it is a corporation in some cases it all flows through the parents taxes. I own an S corp and everything flows through to our taxes. That said, if the business is losing money then there isn't anything to flow through.
However, if the business owns property, etc. according to what has been posted, those assets don't have to be reported. I must have missed that two years ago when we filled out the FAFSA because we reported the building our business owns....</p>
<p>All of the colleges I have applied require CSS Profile in addition to FAFSA so I'm not exactly trying to buy this loophole. I just wanted to be accurate and not dumbly list the things that are not even suppose to be listed. </p>
<p>It's not a sole proprietorship; my dad owns only 50% of it. The stock I've mentioned in the previous post is the investment my parents made to start this business decades ago. </p>
<p>Also, What do you guys mean by Schedule C? Are you guys talking about Schedule C of the form 1120? If so, it's empty...nothing is written on it...It seems I'm the only one not understanding what Schedule C is ...haha</p>
<p>I'll just send in all the forms I have and hope that they'll understand my situation even if I make stupid mistakes. Besides, if they really do know how to find every cent, then they will also know that I need a fullride in order to attend a college. </p>