Is my father's social security disability money considered income for the family?

Paying for College
1

My father has not been working since 2010 because he is disabled ans sick and he started collecting disability benefits last year. He is 53, so I’m not sure if this is retirement money or not. It might be, since he won’t be able to work anymore. For the FAFSA, is social security benefits, (esp disability) considered income for the family? We filed for 1040A (filed jointly) and the total income is the amount of money my mom earned, and did not include the disability payment as income.

2

Under FAFSA rules, untaxed Social Security benefits are not to be reported.

3

First, it needs to be determined if those payments are subjected to taxation…


[QUOTE=""]
If you are approved for Social Security disability benefits, your benefits may be taxable. You may find yourself with tax obligations if you have other sources of income besides your disability payment, or if your spouse earns a substantial income.

[/QUOTE]

If you file a federal tax return as an “individual” and your combined income* is between $25,000 and $34,000, you may have to pay income tax on 50 percent of your Social Security benefits. If your combined income is above $34,000, up to 85 percent of your Social Security benefits is subject to income tax.

  • If you are married and file a joint return, you may have to pay taxes on 50 percent of your benefits if you and your spouse have a combined income that is between $32,000 and $44,000.
  • If your combined income is more than $44,000, up to 85 percent of your Social Security benefits is subject to income tax. >>>

It would be understandable if the other spouse is earning an income of a certain amount, then the disability payments would be taxed.

4

Untaxed disability benefits are never included on the FAFSA. They are not added in at all. They are not added to a spouse’s income. They are not reported at all on the FAFSA.

Only taxed disability benefits are reported on the FAFSA.

This has absolutely nothing to do,with the other spouse’s earnings…not at all.

5

For anyone else reading this we need to be more clear thumper. Untaxed social security benefits aren’t included on the fafsa. Other kinds of untaxed disability are reportable on the fafsa.

https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1415/help/faadef33.htm

6

Thank you for the clarification. Untaxed social security benefits. Does this include untaxed SS disability? If not, please correct me!