My parents have filed their tax returns but will not relieve them for several weeks. I have mine, in addition to my W-2s. If my parents do not submit their forms by the March 2nd deadline for Harvard and Dartmouth, will I not receive a financial aid statement? Will this jeopardize/alter the financial aid I will eventually get once I can submit the forms?
What is “them” that your parents will not receive for several weeks? If your parents have filed their tax returns, than they should already be in possession of copies of those returns, or at the very least should be able to acquire copies from a tax preparer in a lot less time than two weeks.
Well, basically they went through the process but for some complicated reasons they have to do some serious thinking as to how much they want to put into a tax-deferred retirement account and therefore don’t know how much they will be paying in taxes. It depends on a payment clearing in mid-march, but there’s a chance it might not in which case my parents will need to put less into retirement because we need the cash now.
If your parents have filed their 2014 taxes, as you say they have, and everything was done correctly, than they should absolutely know how much they will be paying in taxes.
@Middkid86 they don’t. It depends on how much they put into a tax-deferred retirement account, which depends on information we won’t receive until March 10th.
So let me rephrase my question: Will I still be able to receive a financial aid offer if my information is not all submitted to idoc until mid-march?
Your parents need to file their returns (electronically) NOW in order for you to meet Harvard’s and Dartmouth’s financial aid deadlines. They can easily amend the returns later, after they make their final decision about the retirement account . . . but they must do their initial filing immediately. I’ll repeat:
File now. Amend later.
Everyone has tax issues. Everyone would prefer to file later. But you are asking for aid, you’re expected to comply with the posted deadlines. The potential repercussions of delayed filing are (1) reduced aid (probably not a risk at Harvard), and (2) delayed notification of your award. In other words, you may not know your financial aid award before the May 1 deadline for making a decision. Then what do you do?
To be fair, no one likes amending. I have done it a couple of times, and it is a pain. And if you have an accountant, you will have to pay more. But that cost and hassle is far offset by a good FA package.
OP, your parents probably have given their info to their accountant, but it sounds like their return are not sent to the IRS yet. So they haven’t “filed” – if they had, their returns would be available for you to send in.
If they do amend, those returns also need to be sent to whatever colleges you are still considering.