<p>I am starting this thread because of a post placed on the Preparing for Finaid Applications Thread. I have posted MY opinion about this. Honestly, I do not think the year your child is going to be a freshman is the year to file your taxes on April 15. Any finaid award you get before completing your taxes and doing the corrections on the FAFSA and Profile will be an ESTIMATED award. It won't be finalized until you complete your taxes. It is my strong opinion that you should not wait until April 15 to file your taxes.</p>
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I don't plan on submitting my taxes until April (we will most likely have to pay this year). Is it ok to finalize FAFSA but submit taxes to the IRS in April?
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<p>Yes you "can" finalize your FAFSA with current figures from 2008 in April BUT you need to realize that until you do this, any financial aid award you receive will be an ESTIMATED award. Your child's financial aid award will not be finalized until you amend your finaid applications with numbers from your 2008 tax returns. If you wait until April, you will likely NOT have a finalized number in time to make an enrollment decision by May 1st. AND YES...those numbers CAN change. We did the estimates when DD was a freshman and one school DECREASED her school grant by $6000...yep. The other schools didn't change the award at all. We finalized EVERYTHING by the end of February. This is NOT the year to wait until April to file your taxes.</p>