OK, so finished up the FAFSA and wherever it asked, I said I had 2013 data and put in the data from our 2013 tax return (married filing jointly). I got to the very end and got a confirmation and our EFC. Now the colleges we put on the list will take that data and come up with our EFC from each individual college correct? And that is outside of any merit scholarship our child was already offered, correct?
The part I don’t understand is the “IRS data retrieval tool”. Most of our tax documents don’t get sent out til 24 January, so I suspect I wouldn’t be done with taxes til beginning to mid February (and most colleges have a 15 February recommended time to finish our taxes and FAFSA I noticed). Now when I start filling out our tax forms on H&R Block, is there going to be something there where I can okay our IRS data is sent to FAFSA? It says on the FAFSA website something about a “link to IRS”. So I will connect up our 2014 tax return thru the H&R Block site somehow and not thru the FAFSA website?
Sorry for being so dense…
You will go back into your FAFSA. Ypu will update the information in the fields reflecting what is on your 2014 tax return. You will change your filing status to “taxes completed”…then you will be able to link to the IRS data retrieval tool…and resubmit to all of your schools.
Wait a few days before updating the FAFSA after you file your return. ,are sure this is done ASAP by your tax preparer…electronically. Also get a copy of his return and all schedules for your own records…just in case you need them. Actually, you will need them to update your FAFSA!
OK great, thank you! I was also wondering how in the world do I print out what I filled in? I just realized I was using a calculator adding up investment and savings accounts and such but did not write those totalled amounts down anywhere. The confirmation in the next few days, will I be able to print out the FAFSA to see what total amounts I put in there? I feel like I am flying by the seat of my pants here!!
You could have printed when you were complete. But you can also print once the FAFSA is processed.
When you update, the savings and investment fields do NOT get changed. Those remain as of the initial FAFSA filong date. You will change only fields reflective of your 2014 tax return.
OK got it…yes I didn’t see any links to print anything when I was done. Just said it was sending confirmation to the email in the account and to give them 2-3 days to process the FAFSA…hoping I can just print it then. Want to know exactly what I wrote in there! I guess the big thing for the FAFSA is them knowing what your income was last year correct?
Once it’s processed you can view and print the SAR(Student Aid Report) at the fafsa site. It will have your answers to all questions.
OK, feel better about that then…thanks again.