I just graduated high school and have been selected for the federal verification program which asks me to send my school all relevant documents to cross-check that I filled the FAFSA out correctly. However, I have just noticed that one of my parents filing status was “Single” while the other appropriately filed “Married Filed Separately”. They were not supposed to file under “single” status since they are married. Will this be a problem/will they do something about this or is their job just to check the relevant numbers that correspond to FAFSA?
If it would be a problem I have a potential alternative: The parent who filed single was not required to file taxes by IRS rules since their income was below the filing threshold for married people. Can I claim that they did not file taxes and so I cannot send the college the tax return for federal verification??
Thanks for reading.
I would not claim that a parent didn’t file when in fact they did.
No, that would be a lie and would likely be caught, getting you in trouble.
If you are verifying FAFSA, you only need the tax forms for the parent who signed the FAFSA. If that is the parent who filed ‘single’ he/she may have to file a correction.
Provide the documents the school asked for, and see what they say.
To 123Mom456 and TomSrOfBoston: You’re probably right that doesn’t seem to be an option.
To twoinanddone: That would be a big relief if only the parent who signed the FAFSA was required to submit documents for verification. Are you sure that that is true? I couldn’t find anything that confirmed this.
Just go through the process with the school and see first.
Is the parent on your fafsa the one who filed “married filing separately”?
If so, the school will want to see the other parent tax return…because the parent on the FAFSA is MARRIED.
If married, both parents must be included on the fafsa.
If your parent indicated " separated or divorced" on the Fafsa, they will need to
Show that this marital status has changed since the 2015 taxes were filed.
Not if they are separated (I did assume they were separated because of the ‘single’ filing status). Only one parent, the FAFSA parent, from a separated married couple needs to provide the information. If they are married and just file separately, then yes, they will need the information from both. If they were married in 2015 but are now separated, the school will probably want W2 or some other way to show that the income on that tax return belong to that parent.
Filing a corrected return is not a big deal, especially if no tax was owed. If tax is owed because of the error, then that will have to be paid.
To clarify, my parents are married and not separated. I am primarily worried that one of them filing their 2015 taxes under the “single” status will be a roadblock in the federal verification process.
If your parents ARE married, both incomes must be reported on the fafsa. Did you do that?
If they indicated “married” on the fafsa and someone filed a return as " single" when they were in fact married… they have IRS tax issues to reconcile also.
Yes, I reported both their incomes/financial information and did so accurately. The filing status is the only potential problem. Since I am only sending the forms to my schools financial aid office, and not the IRS, I would like to know if they would not be concerned with the incorrect filing status and if their job is only to cross-check the financial numbers.
They will do their work and your parents may need to change status but I don’t think that’s your problem. Someone like @kelsmom could say, she’s mentioned doing verifications here before.
The filing status on the tax return actually affects some of the numbers on the return…like taxes owed. The amount is different for a single filer than a married one.
I believe your parent who filed single will need to amend their return.
@kelsmom ??? @BelknapPoint
If a married person improperly filed a federal return with a “single” status, an amended return for that year should be filed to correct the mistake.
Why did they file this way? Do they live together in the same household with you?
Unfortunately, financial aid officers are put in the uncomfortable position of being the enforcers in this case. From what OP posted, the parents either had to both file married filing separately or they had to file married filing jointly. If the returns are married filing separately & single, there are three choices: 1) the parent who filed single must amend the return to married filing separately; 2) the parents need to file an amended return of married filing jointly; 3) the parents leave things as they are. In cases 1 & 2, the school will require both original returns (signed by each parent) and the amended return (signed by the parents) … and the student will be eligible for financial aid. In case 3, the student will not be eligible for aid.
@Madison85 It was most likely a mistake, yes we all live together.
@kelsmom I think the way forward for me would be option 1, amending the return filed under “single” so that both are filed as married filing separately. I have two questions though: You stated that the college would need the “original return” under this option, would the original return transcript suffice (as it would under normal circumstances), or did you mean I need to submit the real original tax return since I am amending it? And secondly, will they inspect other years and demand changes to those as well, because I am pretty sure that the same parent has been filing “single” for a number of years. (even though I am only sending 2015 information).
Thank you all!
Why not amend to change filing status to Married Filing Jointly?
This is of course an adult decision, but most married people do better filing as ‘married, filing jointly’. There are a few situations where there is a reason to file separately, including really large medical bills by one (especially with little income), if one party doesn’t trust the other, lots of business deductions. You might want to ask them to consider filing a join return or at least run the returns both ways.
When you start school, there are deductions like the AOTC that aren’t available with the ‘married filing separately’ status. It’s a really nice credit worth up to $2500 per year.
would the original return transcript suffice (as it would under normal circumstances)
Yes. And the aid office is only concerned with your parents’ tax returns as they relate to you receiving aid at their school (they aren’t going to go back to past years if there is no reason for them to do so for your aid at their school). They are not out to cause trouble for your parents - they just have to follow the rules for FAFSA verification. They don’t report to the IRS if someone is filing wrong … they just have to make sure they don’t give aid if the filing status is wrong.