Fin aide and taxes

So I am currently a student who recently got married in may of 2017. I received a letter from financial aide saying they want a verification form of my taxes in 2016. But they also want a form from my husband from 2016… because they want to include his income from 2016 to my income of 2016 even though we were not even dating or living together then? Can they do that? He has stated he doesn’t feel comfortable doing that as we keep all of our financial information separate. Which is understandable. How can they add financial income to mine that did not exist at the time? Also I have offered to give them this years tax information since we filed separate. But they insist they want his income from before we were married to add to my 2016 fasfa … please advise

When did you file your 2018-2019 FAFSA. I’m guessing you were married when you did this…that being the case, you are REQUIRED to include both your income from 2016 AND your husband’s income from 2016. That’s is the rule…your financial aid is as of the date of filing…so for the 2018-2019 academic year…you are REQUIRED to list both yours and your husband’s income…

And if you don’t…you won’t be receiving any need based financial aid at all…because your application will be incomplete. What you have received is a verification request…because your FAFSA likely indicated you were married…which is true.

You have two choices…

1.send the requested information and have them process your financial aid correctly as married.

Or

  1. Don’t send the info requested and just don’t take any financial,aid.

Here is my best guess …(I’m no expert though)

The FAFSA for school year 2018-2019 uses taxes from 2016 (i.e. prior prior year). They use an older income tax report to anticipate what our income is going to be for the next school year (not perfect, but what else can they do, right?)

But for you they know you are married and so they want to anticipate your household income for next year by looking at both you and your husbands tax returns.

I don’t think they care what your personal arrangement (i.e. keeping your finances separate) are. Anymore than they care when a student says “but my parent’s won’t pay”.

So they wouldn’t go back and try to make me owe more for 2016? I guess I got confused when they said add it to mine.

Also be advised that you won’t be able to get certain tax credits (EITC, education credits) if you file separately.

Yes I got married in 2017 … just thought it weird that they are trying to adjust my income in 2016 to add his. I explained I have no issue in given our income for this year but really don’t understand why the need to add his income to mine before we were together.

@cgrlygo

Are you talking about the 2018-2019 FAFSA and aid for next school year…the 2018-2019 academic year?

If so…need based financial aid is based on the 2016 tax year figures…and yours will need to be for BOTH you and your husband because you are married…and were married when you filed the 2018-2019 FAFSA.

You MUST include both of your incomes regardless of how you keep your finances. The colleges don’t care about that.

So…you MUST provide your husband’s 2016 income…and the school will want his income information.

They will be adding HIS 2016 income to YOUR 2016 income…and there will be a change made by the college to your 2018-2019 FAFSA to reflect your husband’s additional 2016 income.

It’s because the FAFSA results are based on income from two years ago… what’s known as the “prior-prior” year. Your income in 2018 (and your husband’s) will be reported on the FAFSA for the 2020-2021 academic year. You were married when you completed FAFSA for the 2018-2019 academic year, so in determining the ability of your household to contribute to your college expenses, the income and assets of both you and your husband need to be evaluated. FAFSA asks for income data from two years prior because all the numbers are available and all the tax forms have been completed.

Your 2018/19 aid is based on 2016 income, but since you are married, you need to report both your and spouse’s income.

Next year your aid for 2019/20 will be based on 2017 income.

Did you just start college? Who pays for your education expenses?

If you will pay about $4,000 a year in qualified education expenses (tuition, fees, books), you might want to convince your husband to file a joint tax return for 2018 to claim an education credit (provided your MAGI is $160,000-$180,000 for married filing jointly, and you are not being claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return), of up to $2,500 (AOTC=American Opportunity Tax Credit).

Two options- give them the information they need, or figure out another way to pay for college. They don’t come to your house and rummage through your files to find your tax returns…if you want their money (or federal money) you play by the disclosure rules.

They are using the 2016 tax information to estimate your financial need the next year. Obviously, now you are married and they need to include your husband’s income in the formulation.