FAFSA misinformation

Paying for College
1

I was told by a FAFSA supervisor NOT to include employee contributions to a 401k on question 94a ("parents payments to Tax-Deferred Penison and Retirement Savings), UNLESS you were collecting the funds already,as in retired! Help area, states to include all contributions! Any idea what is correct?

Also, question 91, Parents Net Current Investments: Form states “include 529 plan in parents name”. Supervisor staid: NO, only if the money was used during 2016-2017. Student is still a HS senior! I seemingly easy form is not so with misinformation.

Any input please?

2

Question 94a:
The FAFSA person is wrong. Report contributions to a 401(k) even if you are not in retirement and collecting the funds.

Question 91:
The FAFSA person is wrong again. Any 529 account owned by a parent should be reported here, regardless of the use of the money in the account.

3

Yes, the pretax 401k contributions count as untaxed income for the year the FAFSA bases income on, so 2016 for this FAFSA (2018/19)

4

Do you subtract the pretax 401k contributions from the Wages amount in the first box on that page? So wages is only taxable wages?

5

No, 401k contributions are not included in wages that were reported on the tax return.

They should be listed on the W2 in box 12 with code D I believe.

6

https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1819/help/faadef23.htm

7

https://www.nitrocollege.com/fafsa-guide/question-94-parents-untaxed-income

8

Thank you for helpful responses! Nitro link is terrific, I bookmarked for next year. There description of question 91 for Parent assets too says, checking,savings, cash on hand. I do not see 529 account listed there. However FASFA help box does include 529 to be listed. Unreal, a supervisor is also giving incorrect information! Amended the app to include 529 increased EFC many thousands $$.

9

I believe cash, savings and checking on hand is separate. There is another question about net worth of investments, and 529 account gets reported under investments as far as I know.

10

You did report the 529 under investment assets of the parents, right?

Yes the only things excluded from asset calculation on FAFSA is primary home, balances of qualified retirement accounts, life insurance and the amount of assets that corresponds to asset protection allowance based on older parent’s age.

In our case I think that was $23,500.

11

So question 90 is cash, checking and savings balance

And question 91 is investments such as 529, stocks, bonds, real estate, mutual funds, etc

As you answer the question in the FAFSA, I think on the right side there is info about that question.

12

I think the nitro link put the same info for question 90 and 91. That’s not correct.

While his guide can be helpful in navigating FAFSA, you should go with definitions right from FAFSA.gov if possible.

13

https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1819/help/fotw43e.htm

Question 91

14

I notified the Nitro College website about the error in the question 91 instructions.

15

529 is investment asset. Question 90 is about readily available cash on hand (including all bank accounts).

16

Instructions for 94a say to enter the total amount “paid directly or withheld from their earnings.” Does this mean just the amount taken out of salary and put into 401K (reported on the W-2) and not any amounts we transferred from our bank account into Roth IRAs?

17

Question 94.a. is asking about parent payments to tax-deferred pension and retirement savings plans. A Roth IRA is not a tax-deferred pension or retirement plan. Parent contributions to a Roth IRA are made with after-tax money; these contributions are not reported anywhere on FAFSA.

18

Thanks!! I thought that was right but wasn’t comfortable hitting “Submit” until I confirmed.