Got an email saying the income reported on my financial aid forms were wrong, help needed please

I recently filled out FAFSA and TAP (NY state aid), and I wasn’t able to use the IRS retrieval tool because it kept saying something was wrong with the information even though I literally copy and pasted it off my moms tax return. I also fill out the form right off her tax return. I think my income is the one reported incorrectly but I’m not sure. In 2016 I got SSI (social security income) after my dad got a brain injury during a surgery and had to stay in the hospital for a year. It was about $9,000 and I made about $260 from my job. So I reported that and I wasn’t supposed to file taxes for 2016, I checked with that IRS quiz. I’m pretty sure I was supposed to report it and I think I did on untaxed income. My EFC for the past two years has been about $1210 and now it’s $4228. It also says I can get a Pell Grant of up to $1670 and last year it was $4570. My TAP was also reduced. My moms income did increase but I read that the increase wouldn’t have had the impact it did on my aid. In the past when I’ve contacted them asking questions they weren’t really helpful so maybe someone on here knows and can help. If it’s correct then that’s fine and I’ll just take out more loans than I expected for when I transfer out of community college this year. Just glad my financial aid has covered the tuition for the past two years.

I don’t think you’re supposed to report SSI (or other untaxed Social Security) benefits at all, even in the untaxed income section of FAFSA.

@kidzncatz thanks, that’s mainly what I was unsure about. I didn’t want to not report it and have my application not go though and I couldn’t find anything that said to report it or not.

From the instructions on the paper FAFSA for Student’s 2016 Untaxed Income:

Don’t include extended foster care benefits, student aid, earned income credit, additional child tax credit, welfare payments, untaxed Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act educational benefits, on-base military housing or a military housing allowance, combat pay, benefits from flexible spending arrangements (e.g., cafeteria plans), foreign income exclusion or credit for federal tax on special fuels.

@AwkwardNewYorker

if you are cutting and pasting then you are using the Data Retrieval Tool wrong. when you get to the Parents Income section of the FAFSA, there is a pull-down menu for your parents 2016 tax return. when you select “Already Filed” it gives you the the option of using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. when you select that, it leaves the FAFSA and goes to the IRS site. then you fill in your mom’s address, submit and boom – it goes back to FAFSA with the necessary information already filled in directly from the IRS site.

each required line on the FAFSA for parents financial information should have a bolded notification that says something like “Downloaded from IRS with Data Retrieval Tool” or something along those lines.

at that point it’s done. go to the next FAFSA section. the necessary information has been directly supplied from the IRS via the tool. the last thing you want to do is go back and re-enter information directly from the tax return. that will mess it up.

the only exception is if the tax return is “married - joint filing” … in which case you have to type in each parent’s W2 income.

Except after you do the DRT, you have to enter manually on the FAFSA the earned income for parent 1 and 2. Because DRT doesn’t bring that over, if parents filed a joint tax return, both their earned income are added together.

OP, work on getting this corrected as I think you are entitled to a lot more Pell than the incorrect income will give you. See if you can make corrections on the FAFSA. If you know which college you will go to, work with the financial aid office.

@Wien2NC I copy and pasted because I wasn’t able to use the data retrevial tool. I meant I copy and pasted my moms address from her tax return to ensure that I was putting it in right but it wouldn’t let me use it. I guess I just have to do verification again this year

@twoinanddone I’m going to correct it tonight and email the schools I sent it to already telling them I incorrectly put in income

Don’t you live with your mom? Does the address have a PO Box number?

Did you try turning off popup blocker and using a different browser?

Also your mom has to enter her FSA ID when linking her tax return with the DRT.

I’m confused.

Are your parents married?

Did they file a joint tax return in 2016?

@thumper1 my parents are divorced and I live with my mom