<p>Here’s my take based on my general knowledge of fafsa and taxes and not on any thorough research.</p>
<p>The OP states that taxes will be filed as married filing jointly, which is fine because there will be no divorce or legal separation by 12/31, therefore the mom will have filed taxes and can’t file a non-filers statement. Any W-2 or 1099 or other income in her name only will have to be reported on fafsa. Also, I believe 1/2 of any jointly earned interest/dividends or other joint income would have to be reported. I’m not aware of any special rules concerning community property states or in general requiring 1/2 of the OP’s W-2/1099 or other income be reported. The mom would have to report any support provided by the OP. Also, I think 1/2 of any joint assets would have to be reported. In community property states it could also be 1/2 of any assets only in the OP’s name, I’m not sure about that.</p>
<p>The problem will be that the IRS Data Retrieval Tool can’t be used and a tax transcript will also show joint income. If selected for verification I think the mom will have to provide documentation in some other fashion of her income.</p>
<p>As others have said, schools requiring profile or their own finaid form will likely require NPC info.</p>
<p>OP, you may want to crunch the tax numbers for married filing jointly vs. married filing separately and see how much of a difference there is. Married filing separately would likely be simpler for fafsa but the tax difference could eat up much of any finaid your daughter would get from filing fafsa.</p>