I’m filling out the FASFA and I’ve come to the part where I have to submit my parent’s tax information the problem is my parents don’t file taxes at all. What do I do ? If anyone would help please do, thank you.
What is their income?
A FAFSA question asks the following:
For 2017, have your parents completed their IRS income tax return or another tax return listed in question 81?
The possible answers are:
*-My parents have already completed their return.
-My parents will file but have not yet completed their return.
-My parents are not going to file. Skip to question 88.*
How did you answer this question? Based on what you have said, it sounds like the last answer is the only correct choice. In this case, FAFSA doesn’t expect you to submit any tax information for your parents. That’s why you are instructed to skip to question 88.
Here are some other questions…
Were your parents required to file…and didn’t?
Did your parents earn their income in this country?
How much was your parent income in 2017?
Why didn’t they file a tax return if they lived and worked in this country?
@seren12 were you born here or are protected by DACA? If so, it makes it a bit easier, but there are some restrictions.
If you would rather message directly, please do. I am familiar with resources to assist in my area and many have broad networks that may be able to refer you to community organizations in yours. They can help you fill out either your FAFSA, research state aid (depending on circumstances, Federal Aid may not be available) as well as resources within colleges.
Congratulations on furthering your education and making your parents proud!
I was born here in the United States
If they earned income in the US, they can file their taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). But even if they do that, the ITIN is not a Social Security Number, so their returns can’t be linked to your FAFSA.
Did your parents earn their income here on the U.S.?
Were they required to file a tax return…but didn’t? OR were they not required to file a tax return here?
The financial aid administrator at the college can help you.
Do not list the ITIN #, use all zeroes for the SS#
As a U.S. Citizen, you are eligible for aid regardless of your parents status.
What happens when undocumented parents earn an income in the US, but haven’t filed any taxes during their many years here? How will their child’s FAFSA process?
I’m guessing that the FAFSA will probably be flagged for verification. Then what?
Will the parents have to file back taxes for at least the last couple years?
IIRC…the choices are…file taxes or complete a non-filers statement.
If the parents earned money in the U.S. and should have filed a return, they would need to get their taxes in order, I believe, for the student to receive federally funded need based aid. They would not have a valid reason for not filing.
Colleges are not the IRS - they will not ask you to file tax returns. Your FAFSA will be flagged as incomplete or needing manual verification. Some schools ask for assets, savings accounts, retirement accounts, cars, home equity etc as a proxy for people who “forget” to file taxes…
^^^
If the student wants a Pell Grant then the feds are going to want to make sure he deserves it
@vhopts where did you hear this?
If a parent is required to file taxes, the colleges ALL require either a tax transcript OR linking to the IRS Dat Retrieval Tool when completing the FAFSA.
If the family is NOT required to file taxes, the colleges ask for a non-filers statement which explains WHY the family wasn’t required to file.
Assets, including savings accounts, are asked for on ALL FAFSA forms. The FAFSA has no questions about car values, primary home equity, and retirement account balances. Some Profile schools ask for these things… but NOT FAFSA schools!
When a FAFSA only school verifies the FAFSA, they ask for documentation to support the things ON the FAFSA…not other things.
How do your parents pay their rent. how did they pay for food. how did do they pay for utilities electric bill? Clothing? Cars? Gas?
These are the kind of questions they could be asked
If the school finds a problem with the tax filing of the parents, they can’t process the FAFSA. For example, if the parents should have filed as married but filed as single, the FAFSA can’t be verified until the corrections are made. However, the school isn’t going to investigate whether those savings accounts or if a parent is required to file if the income is near or under the amount required to file.
If the parents put that their income is $0, the colleges will rightfully ask how they are paying day to day living expenses.
If they have honestly listed their income, the school can ask for signed tax returns…
What is that amount?
I suspect that the parents are earning enough that they would be required to file. The student makes no mention that they’re living with relatives who are near-fully supporting them. Instead he simply states that they’ve never filed taxes…which suggests that they’re working under the table and paying their rent, food, electric bill, car expenses with cash proceeds. This is quite common.
Internet search says that married filing jointly (age under 65) with gross income over $20,800 in 2017 requires you to file.