FAFSA Question - my son filing Single vs Claimed

My son worked this year and he made more this year than last year. Our tax guy recommended that he file on his own. Part of the reason is that he worked freelance and received a few 1099 forms. I will then need to make a correction to the original form that I completed since we always claimed him as a dependant. Will FAFSA still need the parent information even though he filed single?

Yes, FAFSA will continue to require the parent information. You will also lose the AOTC, but he may qualify for it.

If you did not pay more than 50% towards your son’s support he can file single and claim his own exemption.

If you can claim him as a dependent then he can’t claim himself.

For FAFSA it won’t matter if he was your dependent for taxes or not, he is your dependent until he is 24, unless he meets one of the conditiins to be independent for FAFSA.

What is AOTC?

So if his father claimed him previously, they will still ask for his tax information and use it to calculate the financial aid grants?

Can his father still get the Plus loans?

The AOTC is the tax credit. It is only available if the person is a dependent on the tax form (self or parent).

The FAFSA definition of dependent is not the same as the IRS definition. The FAFSA requires the income and asset information from the parent with whom the dependent student lived with the most in the tax year. The parents can trade the tax exemption even if the child lives with one parent more than the other, but that option isn’t allowed for FAFSA.

Yes, parents can still get Plus loans even if they don’t claim the child as a dependent and aren’t the FAFSA parent.

That’s incorrect, I believe. Rather, so long as he is under age 24 and a college student, his parents must claim him as a dependent unless he paid more than 50% towards his own support. That’s a significant distinction.

And maybe I’m missing something, but he can (and should) file his own tax return if his income warrants it, but that has no impact whatsoever on whether or not you’d claim him as a dependent.

His tax filing status has NOTHING at all to do with providing parent info on the FAFSA.

Your parent information will be required on the FAFSA regardless of how he files his taxes.