FAFSA Question: "Payments to tax-deferred pension and retirement savings plans"

Paying for College
1

The full question is 94a. “Payments to tax-deferred pension and retirement savings plans
Payments to tax-deferred pension and retirement savings plans (paid directly or withheld from earnings), including, but not limited to, amounts reported on the W-2 Form in Boxes 12a through 12d, codes D, E, F, G, H, and S. Don’t include amounts reported in code DD (employer contributions toward employee health benefits)”

I already contacted multiple FAFSA employees through live chat and they haven’t really directly answered my question.

  1. My mom does not have pension plans.
  2. My mom said she has annuity retirement account. (The FAFSA employee said to write the number in her checking account if her annuity is in there).
  3. My mom does not have a w2 form because she is self-employeed.

Is this right? This seems really off. Will it affect my financial aid if I do write it wrong, though?

Thank you.

2

So your mom says that she has an annuity retirement account. I take it that since you say that she is self-employed, she is making contributions to the retirement account and not withdrawing money as she would if she were retired. Ask your mother for the answer to this question:

Are the contributions to her annuity retirement account subject to tax in the year that the contributions were made?

3

If the answer is yes, what would that mean? Thank you for the help! She put money into an annuity account a couple of years ago.

4

They are only looking for any payments she made into the account for that fiscal year, not money paid in years ago.