<p>Hi!!!
My mom is adamant about not filing the fafsa until she has her W2, which will not be out until the 10-15th. Would I be missing out on money by not filing on the 1st, or would I be able to get my financial aid package final and complete by waiting for those forms. My mom says that filing later will save us having to go back and adjust things later and extending the process....</p>
<p>When is the school’s deadline?</p>
<p>Find the deadlines for the schools you’ve applied to on their websites. If your mom will truly get her W-2s by the 10th-15th it shouldn’t be a problem. Most people get theirs near the end of January though. If your mom’s only income is from W-2 wages and perhaps bank interest, it should be relatively easy to come up with a very close estimate from her last pay stub and last bank statements. Tell your mom it really isn’t that hard to update FAFSA, it doesn’t ‘extend the process’(everyone else is doing this too) and she could be costing you financial aid if it gets close to the deadlines for your schools.</p>
<p>The schools need my fafsa submitted by Feb 1. I feel like my mom will be cutting it to close by waiting…whats the process for updating the tax info on a completed fafsa??</p>
<p>You go to the fafsa site and log in. You can follow the instructions to manually update it but the best way is to use the IRS data retrieval tool. If your mom files taxes electronically the retrieval tool should be available about a week after she files. It will take longer if she sends in a paper return. The tool will automatically transfer her tax return info to the fafsa. If your mom owes money on her return, she should pay it right away because the return data won’t be available to the retrieval tool until the IRS receives her payment.</p>
<p>If you do an estimated fafsa now, you will select the tax status ‘will file’. Once your mom files her return you select the status ‘have filed’. I’m pretty sure the retrieval tool will change that status automatically.</p>
<p>Another advantage to using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool to populate FAFSA after taxes are filed. Every year a percentage of FAFSAs are selected to be verified, i.e. double checked with additional documentation required to be submitted. Using the retrieval tool satisfies the additional income documenation required for the verification process.</p>
<p>The retrieval tool won’t be available until Feb. 3, after your Feb. 1 deadlines. So explain to your mom that if an estimated FAFSA is done now and then the tool is used after taxes are filed, rather than extending the process, it will speed it up a little later if your FAFSA is selected for verification.</p>
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<p>Not necessarily. I used the the IRS Date Retrieval Tool, and still had to send paper copies of some of the pages of our tax return to my son’s school for verification last year, and my daughter’s school the year before that.</p>
<p>It sounds like the OP’s tax situation is relatively simple. I had to send in additional doc last year too because the retrieval tool doesn’t correctly handle 401k to IRA rollovers. So yeah, there are caveats.</p>