I need help with my Parent's tax filing for my admission into college

My dad filed his taxes and I only used his tax information for my FAFSA as my mom has no tax information as she’s not a US citizen. Neither is mt father, but that’s a different story. I need my mom’s tax information, but I have nothing from her. She hasn’t worked under a company for a few years. I’m scared if I did something wrong. My father is the HOH and he didn’t combine his taxes with my mom. They’re not legally married either. Did I mess up?

It’s impossible for us to know, based on the information you have provided. Do your parents live together? Did your mom earn any money?

I would add to this question: which parent claimed you on their taxes as a dependent (or did both)? Do you parents live together or maintain separate residences? Do both parents provide financial support for you? If they are not married, is there anything like child support being paid to the custodial parent? There are a lot of questions, actually.

And non US citizens who earn money in the US absolutely must file federal (and often state) taxes. I would clarify that with your mom. The exception would be if she earned under a certain minimum - some people don’t earn enough money in a year to need to pay taxes (although it is still good practice to file, even if you don’t meet the threshold). If you mom doesn’t have formal employment, it could well be the case that she didn’t earn enough to need to file taxes.

I think you need to ask her the situation. No one here will be able to parse your family’s taxes.

When you asked your mom for her taxes, what did she say? Did she say she didn’t file?

Well … for FAFSA purposes, if the parents are unmarried and not living together, and if the student lives with the father, mom’s information isn’t needed. I think it’s important to start with simple questions & go from there. Otherwise, it could be unnecessarily overwhelming. Overwhelmed students often just abandon the FAFSA …

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  1. Do your parents live together? Let’s start there.
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