<p>Hello fellow parents,</p>
<p>My husband and I cannot file our 2009 returns until we receive documentation from his job...something to do with a schedule K-1. They say that it will not be available before the beginning of April, but IDOC and college deadlines are March 1st. What can we do? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>We had the same problem 2 years ago. Hubby is self employed attorney and accountant couldn’t get us our K-1 before the deadline of March 2nd. I called FAFSA and they said since you are checking “will file” they only need an estimate. You can change it once you have filed the actual return. If you don’t have an estimate they suggest you go off last years returns. Hope this helps!</p>
<p>There are many, many people who ahve to wait for information in order to complete their tax returns. UCMOM above is correct. Indicate you “will file” and use an estimate. Your K-1 will contain information from a partnership, Corp, Trust or similar entity. If this makes up a big part of your income, it may be worthwhile to call the accountant preparing the return or the responsible person at your husband’s organization to get an indication if the K1 will be similar to last years or higher or lower…that way you can get your estimate in the ballpark.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>The OP is talking about an IDOC deadline…not filing the FAFSA with “will file” status. He needs to contact the colleges that are using IDOC and explain his situation. He’s clearly not the only one with this issue. Does IDOC have a “helpline”…perhaps contacting them will do the trick.</p>
<p>Whoops, sorry. I guess I am cluelessrhumbob. I see the IDOC is a function of the collegeboard. Is this something that some schools use in place of the FAFSA?</p>
<p>Some of the schools that require the PROFILE also use a service called IDOC. Students send their tax returns and whatever other documentation to IDOC who sends it off to the colleges. I guess some schools prefer to have a middleman handle these documents. Some schools just have these forms sent to finaid directly. But I digress…IDOC is terrific if your student applies to a number of schools using the service as then you just send the stuff to IDOC instead of copying and sending to multiple places your self.</p>
<p>NO…IDOC has nothing to do with the FAFSA at all.</p>
<p>If the above date has passed, mail your IDOC materials to the College Board as soon as possible. Individual colleges and programs may publicize a different date. Check each college’s or program’s information to ensure that you meet their specific dates and requirements.</p>
<p>This is what it says on the IDOC section on college board. If in doubt, call or email the IDOC services.</p>
<p>Or, email your colleges/IDOC and ask if you can send in 2008 tax info, so long as your financial circumstances haven’t changed too much.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. This year’s income is substantially lower than last year’s so submitting 2008 would not be too smart, I think. Last year’s K-1 amount was really small, but we have no idea what this year’s amount will be. This K-1 business is new to us, and we do not have enough historical data to guess what it might be this year. We have indeed indicated “will file” in the FAFSA. DS has only been asked by Harvard and MIT for IDOC…does that mean that the other colleges do not use IDOC? Is there any place in Collegeboard that tells you which schools utilize IDOC?
Thanks again for your replies.</p>
<p>When you submitted your Profile, you should have received a little note from them regarding IDOC. And you should have gotten very specific instructions from IDOC on how to complete the mailing to them.</p>
<p>Check the schools’ finaid websites OR call them if you’re not sure.</p>
<p>I believe only SOME schools that require the Profile use the IDOC. I’m not positive about this …but I don’t think FAFSA only schools use IDOC ever.</p>
<p>I went on Collegeboard’s CSS profile page and found out that 4 of the colleges that DS has applied to, participate in the IDOC. Since we have only received requests for IDOC from 2 of the schools, does that mean that the other schools are not interested in him? Or is it that they are just behind in their documentation requests? I am asking because I want to email the relevant schools explaining the delay in preparing our tax returns, and I am wondering if I should email all 4 colleges or only the two that have requested IDOC? I am, as always, appreciative of any insight and advice you can provide. Thanks, all !</p>
<p>E-mail all the schools. Call them as well, if you can. Some schools will not contact you for missing info, they will assume you looked up their requirements online or on some letter your kid got (that maybe you never even saw), and are handling it all from your end. </p>
<p>And if there’s other documents that IDOC wants (W2’s, statement of a student’s non-filer status, etc), send them now anyway, even if your taxes follow later.</p>