<p>Ok, here's my situation. I have just worked up taxes for 2012 (even though I had to use the federal tax chart from 2011). I think I should be exact or pretty close on all numbers based on DH's final pay stub and my W-2's.</p>
<p>We have to pay taxes to 2 states plus federal for 2012 (ugh!)</p>
<p>Anyway, am I better off to use my numbers now to file the fafsa with "estimated" numbers even though we will owe taxes? I can pay them right away, but obviously not before I can officially file. I've read the IRS link thing won't work for a while after payment, and I don't know if schools (and FAFSA) will accept the estimates while we still owe?</p>
<p>We have deadlines on the CSS and FAFSA of February 1.</p>
<p>Thanks for any advice!!</p>
<p>You can file the FAFSA using estimates…but you can’t file your IRS tax return with estimates. The IRS retrieval tool can’t work until you actually FILE your taxes.</p>
<p>Ok, guess I will try to complete the FAFSA tomorrow using my estimates then. </p>
<p>I knew I still have to file the taxes, just trying to avoid as many headaches as possible and didn’t know how difficult it is to change or update when I file. </p>
<p>Thanks for the response!</p>
<p>It is very easy to update your FAFSA online. We used to complete ours with estimates the first week of
January, and then amend the first week of February. So…complete your taxes. Then you just log back into the site, and change the fields that reflect the numbers from your 2012 tax return, and resubmit.</p>
<p>Don’t wait to submit your FAFSA, even with estimates. Some schools have early deadlines.</p>
<p>You can also amend your taxes with a 1040x if it comes to it.</p>
<p>First year of having to do this (in many, many years anyway) so a little nervous seeing all the “oh no, I shouldn’t have done that” posts. Thanks!</p>
<p>I am not a tax expert…just a parent. </p>
<p>I would suggest that you do the FAFSA using the best possible estimates from 2012, and submit now.</p>
<p>I would NOT suggest you do your taxes using estimates…wait until you have the W2 forms for 2012, do your taxes and then update the FAFSA.</p>
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<p>There’s nothing on fafsa that asks how much you had withheld during the year nor does it ask for estimated payments made. It just asks for the amount of tax paid, whether it’s covered by withholding and estimates or not. So schools and fafsa won’t know if you’re going to owe when you file. But yes, when you file and if you owe, make the payment right away.</p>
<p>The school will accept your estimated FAFSA. However, if you are selected for verification, the IRS retrieval tool will not work until about 2 weeks after you file your FAFSA. And if you owe additional taxes, pay those as the IRS retrieval tool won’t work if you don’t pay.</p>
<p>So…do the FAFSA with estimates, then do your taxes and file ASAP and amend the FAFSA to reflected those 2012 tax return numbers and resubmit.</p>