<p>I am filling out the fafsa for my daughter, for a fafsa only school. I am the custodial parent. My husband has lived and worked out of state for 4 years. Although we are separated, we are not legally separated, divorced, nor do we plan to divorce.</p>
<p>We file a joint tax return . Therefore, when Fafsa asks: " what income tax did YOU pay last year?"what do I say? My income is low and my husband's is much larger. "Fafsa" would be completely confused to see the ( relatively high) joint income tax we pay after I have filled out only MY information ( income) as the custodial parent.</p>
<p>Ummm … you sound married to me. How do you justify stating that you are separated when it is simply separation due to distance? You don’t plan to divorce, which leads me to believe that you are married for all intents & purposes. I would expect you to report that you are married & to include both incomes.</p>
<p>I’m in a simliar situation as glimmeringirl. My husband and I separated in January 2009. He moved to IL and I stayed in CA. He was unemployed until August 2009 and then he found work in New Zealand. We have not filed for a ‘legal’ separation and for religious reasons we don’t plan to divorce. I have been a homemaker for 18 years and my only income in 2009 was under $1000 (small home business). My accountant thinks we should file “separately” despite the tax benefits of filing jointly to make it less confusing for FAFSA.</p>
<p>My question is what does FAFSA honestly prefer – separated parents to file separately or jointly? I’ve contacted them twice (online chat) and they refuse to comment either way. </p>
<p>If I file jointly, then what I report on the FAFSA will be significantly lower and not match the tax return. If I file separately, I feel like FAFSA will think I’m trying to hide my husband’s income when I’m not. I plan to report the money he sent me from New Zealand under “child support.”</p>
<p>I’ve been told that no matter what I do FAFSA will ask for “verification” documents, so I just want to make this process as simple as possible. If anyone has advice on filing separately or jointly, it would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I kind of did the same thing. My mom and dad separated in june but filed their taxes together. For the FAFSA, I put my mom’s income only and skipped the questions about income taxes paid because I could only find the joint taxes paid.</p>
<p>marinca, FAFSA does not ask for anything, nor does it give any aid. The purpose of the FAFSA is to collect information that is used to calculate the Expected Family Contribution as outline by Congress in the federal methodology. Individual schools verify your information from documents they request. </p>
<p>As for your situation … if you are filing as separated, you can complete your tax return either way. The thing is, though, that you cannot live on $1000 a year. How do you live? Who pays for your rent, food, car expenses, etc? If the child support you claim is a large number, that may help explain. If you receive federal benefits (food, housing, etc), that will be explained when you check the federal benefits box. If you are verified, you will have forms to complete that will explain all of that.</p>