<p>I'm working on FAFSA right not and I'm so confused!</p>
<p>"How much did you earn from working (wages, salaries, tips, etc.) in 2013?"</p>
<p>So I had a very small babysitting job for 3 months. I made roughly no more than 200-300 since it was only for 3 months and the days where I was put to "work" wasn't consistent. This meaning that it wasn't a job that I had every single week--it was only when people needed me when they were extremely busy or something. Also, if it was a week I worked it was only for a day a week for only 3 hours. I put babysitting as a work experience when I applied for UC's (UCSD,UCI,UCSB,UCR). </p>
<p>I didn't do any tax returns or "file income" because I was self employed---I'm really bad with these terms so I apologize! However, now doing my FAFSA, I came across a question asking about did I file and I put "will not file" because I didn't. Now for the question above--"How much...2013?" should I put 0? Will this be okay if I put 0 because the gov. doesn't have any type of record of me having any type of income (again, made very little $)? I'm sooooo afraid because I want the most finaid I can get :( . Will they get suspicious and say that I'm lying because they'll see I put that I had a babysitting "work experience" from my UC apps? </p>
<p>THANK YOU SO MUCH IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR! :)</p>
<p>You do not have to declare income from self-employment that is less than $400 for the year for IRS tax purposes - but you do have to report it on the FAFSA as income. You will put 0 in income earned from work - but you will put an amount in “Other Untaxed Income” that equals what you think you earned. The amount you earned is low enough that it won’t affect your EFC, but you do need to be honest.</p>
<p>Thank you Kelsmom for replying to me!! 
So I’m going to do what you told me to do —report it under “untaxed income”.</p>
<p>Under “Untaxed Income”, the following options are (which should I put it under? I’m new at this since I’ll be the 1st person in my family to attend college):</p>
<p>-Payments to tax-deferred pension and retirement savings plans
-Child support received</p>
<p>-Housing, food, and other living allowances paid to military, clergy, and others</p>
<p>-Veterans noneducation benefits</p>
<p>-Other untaxed income not reported such as workers’ compensation or disability</p>
<p>-Money received or paid on your behalf</p>
<p>Thanks so much again for everything!</p>
<p>Put it under:</p>
<p>Other untaxed income not reported such as workers’ compensation or disability</p>
<p>
No! You still have to report any self-employment income. However, you don’t have to pay the self-employment tax if your SE income is less than $400.</p>
<p>No way… :(.</p>
<p>So I do have to declare the income? Declare the income as in JUST by declaring it as “untaxed income” under my FAFSA right? I calculated the $ I earned from the babysitting and it was barely $63 (looked at my old calendar I used to mark when I was put to work). </p>
<p>Will this, in any way, decrease the amount of financial aid I receive? My family is poor and I want the most finaid I can get. 
I am so dumb and regret putting babysitting as a work experience on my college app…</p>
<p>Also, does it make a difference if it was in a form of a gift card that the parents paid me in or does that not matter? It was a $63 walmart gift card that they paid me in because they were my mom’s friends and she told them to not pay me in cash (haha…it was very funny when they paid me and told me the reason why it was in a form of a gift card).</p>
<p>Sorry - when I said you do not have to declare the income, I meant that because it is the only income you have, you do not have to file a tax return. If you had other income, and if the combination of that other income & the self-employment income meant that you had to file a return, you would have to declare the self-employment income. I was simply responding to this particular situation.</p>
<p>The little bit of money you earned, which you should report on the FAFSA as untaxed income (since it was intended as payment for services), will not affect your aid at all.</p>