<p>Problem:
I live with my uncle any my parents are divorced. my mom still claims me on her tax return but i don't live with her.when i apply for fasfa i want to only put my dad and step moms information, will that be a problem? also my mom lives in the same state as i do and my dad lives in Canada so will it be a problem when i submit his income statements? are there any special rules/regulations if your parents live outside of the U.S. and also how do i know who has "custody over me" i think its both because there are not regulations i follow or anything
thanks, i need answers please</p>
<p>I believe the rules are </p>
<ol>
<li>Report the parent who you lived with the most in the year. If neither then</li>
<li>Report the parent who provides the most financial support to you. If neither then</li>
<li>Report the parent with the higher income.</li>
</ol>
<p>11carolina, why are you living with your relatives instead of your parents? Sorry to pry, but your answer may lead to some advice …</p>
<p>Here is a thought…if you put your dad down and he lives in Canada, that might impact your residency for tuition purposes.</p>
<p>Good point^^^ Didn’t even think of that.</p>
<p>Along with the state residency issue, wouldn’t the fact that the mom declares her on her taxes make a difference? or not?</p>
<p>No - it doesn’t matter who claims the student for tax purposes.</p>
<p>Wait - Why doesn’t it matter who claims the student for tax purposes? What if she lived with her mom and her moms boyfriend claimed her as a tax deduction? Would she still only be require to report her mothers income information and not the boyfriends, even though he took the deduction? It seems the verification process would be difficult.</p>
<p>It sounds as if her mom is single and may have a lower income whereas she mentioned her dad and step-mom which might mean a higher income.</p>
<p>Also, if she lived with the uncle and commuted to school to save money, would she still be given a housing allowance assuming she qualified for aid since she isn’t living in her own home but with a relative?</p>
<p>
Because that is the FAFSA rules. We don’t claim our son as a dependent on our tax returns as he was working and earned to much. He was still our dependent for FAFSA purposes. FAFSA rules for dependency are quite seperate from dependency for tax purposes. The verification process does not care who claims the student as a dependent for tax purposes.</p>
<p>
The boyfriend is not considered a parent by FAFSA. She would only report the mother’s income.</p>
<p>So a student living with her mom and her moms boyfriend could have no income and the boyfriend could pay everything and claim the student leaving the student with a zero EFC. I wonder how it would work if things changed and no FAFSA was needed but your tax return. A situation like this would make that very difficult.</p>
<p>Regarding your son, my daughter was a full time college student but graduated in May. I believe I can technically claim her as a dependent on my tax return because of her student status regardless of how much she earns. Is this correct? </p>
<p>She kept her apartment and just started a full time job last month. Would she be my dependent when filling out her sisters FAFSA for 2010-2011?</p>
<p>
I am not an accountant but my understanding of the tax rules is that, if she is over 19, then to be your dependent for tax purposes for 2009 she must have been a full time student for at least 5 months of the year and must not have provided more than 1/2 of her own support for the year. </p>
<p>My son had dropped out and worked and returned to school. He was in school 4 months of the year but had also earned enough that he definitely provided more than half his own support so we were not eligible to claim him as a dependent for tax purposes. He was still considered a dependent for filing his FAFSA though as he was not 24.</p>
<p>I don’t think you can claim her as a dependent on your other daughters FAFSA next year. Here are the criteria for being included as member of household on FAFSA in the 2009-2010 school year.You will not be providing more than half the support of your older daughter from July 1, 20010 through June 30, 2011 and she cannot answer “No” to every question in Questions 48-60 (the dependency questions).
</p>
<p>well because by living with my uncle i am getting to go to a better school, if i lived with my mom i would have to go to a bad one, and i dont want to go to school in Canada</p>
<p>Did your mom sign over legal custody to your uncle in a court of law? If so, you are independent for financial aid purposes. If not, you will have to use the income for the parent who provides the most financial support to you. Does a parent give you or your uncle money for your needs? If so, that is the parent you must use.</p>
<p>
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<p>If your only reason for living with your uncle is for the purpose of attending school…I would think this would be viewed in the same way as a student attending school away from home at…for example…a boarding school. The place of RESIDENCE is still with the parents. The place of school attendance is simply that…a place of school attendance. </p>
<p>If, for example, I sent my kids to Andover Academy (which is OOS for me) and they lived with a relative who lives nearby (and they could…we have lots of relatives who live near that school)…it would not matter a speck for my kid’s residency OR financial aid purposes. My kids would still be residents of OUR home state…and they would also have to put OUR information on the financial aid forms. </p>
<p>As Swimcats pointed out. The FAFSA rules are very clear. Kelsmom also pointed them out. It doesn’t matter who declares you on their taxes…it matters who your custodial parent is. Where is your PERMANENT address when you are NOT IN SCHOOL? If you live equally (or not at all) with each parent…then you put the one down who has provided you with the MOST support in the year. Those are the rules.</p>
<p>Re: taxes. You can only declare a child as a dependent IF you provide more than half of their support for the year. So…to that poster’s question…I guess it depends on how much your graduate has earned since she graduated. Our son was also a college student who graduated in May. HOWEVER he has a job and we have NOT provided half of his support this year. We cannot declare him as a dependent because the reality is that he has earned more than half of his support since he began his job on June 1.</p>
<p>OTOH…DD will graduate this coming June and very likely will live with us for the summer. She hopes to receive a Peace Corps assignment. In her case, if this happens, we WILL be able to declare her as a dependent for 2010 because we WILL be providing her support. NOW…if she gets an engineering job…that will NOT be the case!!</p>
<p>Why do you want to have your dad listed on your FAFSA and not your mom?</p>
<p>What state do you live in? Are you going to be applying to any in-state public schools?</p>
<p>It sounds like you’re just living with your uncle to have an address in a certain school district, but he’s not financially supporting you. Who is paying for your stuff - food, clothes, school expenses, etc? Since your mom is deducting you, it sounds like she is paying for these things either out of her own earnings or out of child support or some combination.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The address of a student’s school location has nothing to do with their financial aid application. The student cannot use the uncle on the FAFSA (or Profile) unless the parents have given up parental rights (as Kelsmom pointed out). This is not the case. The student is living there to attend a school. </p>
<p>This student, I believe, needs to list one of the other parent…the one who provides the most support…on that FAFSA. I personally don’t think there is any other option.</p>
<p>The question of international vs not status also needs to be considered. If this kiddo is REALLY a resident and citizen of Canada, some schools will view her as an international student. It doesn’t matter that she attends school anywhere else right now.</p>
<p>DH graduated from High School in Tokyo. This did NOT make him a Japanese citizen. He was simply residing there (with his family)…but they were U.S. citizens. However, they did NOT have instate residency anywhere in the U.S. because they didn’t LIVE in the U.S.</p>
<p>thumper, it sounds to me as though mom2collegekids totally gets the dependency thing. </p>
<p>
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<p>Usually, though if parents are divorced, a divorce decree may provide for alternating the deduction from parent to parent, and that’s permitted by the IRS.</p>
<p>thumper :)</p>
<p>I know that the uncle and the school address have nothing to do with the OP’s FAFSA. </p>
<p>My point was that it’s unlikely that the uncle is supporting the OP, therefore one of his/her parents are. Since the mom is taking the tax deduction, it would appear that the mom is the one who is either directly giving the uncle money or the OP money for his/her support while he/she’s living with her uncle. It also would appear that the mom has the greater income, since the OP wants to use her dad’s income instead of her mom’s. That suggests that the OP has figured out that the dad makes a low enough income to make a difference for aid.</p>
<p>The OP has provided information that makes me wonder just what the issues are. First…she says she is a resident of Canada. Then she says she is an international for anywhere in North America, implying that she is not a citizen anywhere in North America. The question of which parent to use on the FAFSA is pretty clear…as stated above and elsewhere. IF you live with your divorced parents equal time (zero and zero is equal), you MUST use the parent who is has the higher income MUST be listed. That is the rule, I believe. It’s not a choice. And it doesn’t matter who lists the kid on the taxes. And it doesn’t matter who is paying her uncle, or her high school tuition (although I have to say…that really leaves me confused…if the family has enough money to pay $12K per year for high school tuition, seems to me that money could be used for college expenses when the time comes…if they wanted to. That money is coming from somewhere).</p>
<p>The more I read this, the more it sounds like this student is hoping they can have it “both ways”…use Dad’s lower income, use Mom’s address for residency purposes…or whatever. It’s getting VERY confusing.</p>
<p>OP…care to clarify??</p>
<p>ok it seems like i have confused everyone so i will try and make things clear
1.) I am american, born and raised and i live in Washington state
2.) My mom lives in Washington and claims me on her taxes, but my dad supports me financially, not her
3.) I am going to an in state school and my dad lives in Canada and is Canadian
4.) my last question is will the fact that he is Canadian and lives in Canadian effect my FASFA form in anyway, and if so how?
thanks</p>