<p>Yipes! How can you report your 2010 income tax if you haven't done your tax return yet? Who does his/her tax return this early?</p>
<p>Is it OK to guesstimate?</p>
<p>Also--our HHI is well under $100K, but we have been saving since forever, so we have a tidy nest egg. (Yes, we have a 401K, but there's a limit to how much you can sock away into that. The rest of our assets are in checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, etc.)</p>
<p>When we report our non-protected assets, will FAFSA take into account that we are near retirement age and therefore cannot afford to dig too deeply into our nest egg? (I am 59; DH is 60. I am hoping to retire next year.)</p>
<p>You drag out last years tax return (2009) and go ahead and use those numbers, updating where you know you should – you may have to confer with your bank records if you had a very different year in 2010 than in 2009 – but, for many families, one year is much like another (same number of dependents, same job, similar adjusted gross income, etc). </p>
<p>There is a question on the FAFSA that asks something like HAve you filed? If not, will you file? Well, you are going to answer “will file” not “have filed”. </p>
<p>Lay out your numbers as fully and as truthfully as you can and submit the FAFSA. Then complete your tax returns as soon as you can (usually in February) and go back to the FAFSA site and amend the FAFSA. This gets you an early submission date (colleges work from the first submitted FAFSA to the second, etc). </p>
<p>Do not be afraid to query the FAFSA site directly. They get back very quickly – and their FAQ’s section is good too. If things get murky or weird, contact the college fin aid department early and often. (Most challenging the first year) good luck!</p>
<p>You have a certain amount of asset protection based on the number of parents and the age of the older parent. The older the parents the higher the income protection. If your husband is turning 61 this year your asset protection will be $65,800. 5.6% of assets over that will go to the EFC.</p>
<p>I am using all the numbers on my and H’s pay stub from the last week of last year to estimate. I estimated the Profile for D’s EA apps in November with 2009 numbers and have found that we did a little better in 2010 (about $13,000 more). So I’m a little worried that it will drastically change our chances (I know it doesn’t sound like a lot of $, but it put us just over the $100,000 mark). BUT I also realized that I didn’t count in health insurance premiums for 2010, so will go back and try to amend Profile with the schools already applied to. I posted on another thread about confusion with including premiums if they are pre-tax deductions. Any thoughts here?</p>
<p>Diane, it does get easier, when your kids are not in the application process. </p>
<p>The dates are later for “returning” students: sophomores, juniors, seniors. </p>
<p>I have two “Returning Students” presently freshman & sophomore & their FAFSA’s, Profile, tax returns are not due at their schools until mid-March: so no estimates & then making corrections to FAFSA, just get the taxes done & do the FAFSA & PROFILE. </p>
<p>It almost feels like “Christmas” when you aren’t rushing & using the estimates etc!</p>
<p>Yes your EFC is calculated every year and that “number” could vary each year if there are fluctuations in income/assets, number of kids in college and yes in your example it is $25,000 for one year. The sophomore year could be the same or higher or lower.</p>