<p>Curious, as I'm double checking my SAR atm. My mother got both refundable and non-refundable credits. But only one was counted on the actual 1040 form. Should I not worry about it?</p>
<p>Long answer: You report the non refundable part of the tax credit on FAFSA because it reduces the taxes reported on FAFSA. Taxes are used as an allowance against income in the EFC formula, so reducing the taxes reduces those allowances which would increase the EFC. This is not the intention of the credits so you report them separately and the EFC formula reduces the available income by those amounts just as if the tax had been paid.</p>
<p>The refundable portion is not reported on FAFSA as it does not reduce the amount of taxes reported on FAFSA. Instead the tax return acts as if you had overpaid your taxes and gives you a “refund” (hence the term refundable credit).Basically says you overpaid “$x” so here is your $x back.</p>
<p>Short anser: don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>Haha, thanks.</p>