So I submitted the fafsa on Feb 1 which was the deadline for a couple of colleges. Since my parent’s 2015 tax income wasn’t completed yet I had to use their 2014 income tax form for a good estimate. My parents income for 2014 was only $47,000 so I put that down because I though that income would be close to 2015. I just found out this morning that their income for 2015 is $110,000. I am worried that since the fafsa deadline was Feb 1, the colleges have already finalized their financial aid packages and are getting ready to send them mid March.
A couple of colleges requested the CSS profile too, though I likely won’t be going to these schools since they were safeties. Should I update the CSS profile as well?
Update the FAFSA ASAP. And contact the schools about how,they want the Profile updated.
I don’t have my parents tax form for 2015 with me right now. All I know is their income for 2015. Should I just update that for the fafsa? Can I just double everything else since their income was doubled?
No. You need accurate numbers. Why didn’t you have any idea when you first submitted FAFSA on February 1 that your parents’ 2015 income was more than twice what it was in 2014? On February 1, tax year 2015 was 31 days in the rear view mirror. That income information should have been available to you.
Update it as best you can for now, at least the income. Or the EFC they calculate will be much lower than actual.
Hopefully your parents will get their taxes done soon or did they already?
They own a business so they were unaware of how much they were making.
Their tax form is still not officially done but will be done in a couple of days. They went to the tax accountant this morning to go over things and the accountant told them of what their income for 2015 was.
I updated my fafsa just a few minutes ago. Should I update the CSS profile too?
yikes! contact the schools by email. i dont think you can change the CSS?
Oh yeah I don’t think I can change the CSS profile :(.
Contact the schools. They will tell you what you need to do.
I applied to more than 10 schools and you can only list 10 on the fafsa until it is successfully processed. I guess I will wait to update the others.
Also how do I answer this question on the fafsa? For 2015, have your parents completed their IRS income tax return or another tax return?
Do I put down will file or completed? 2015 should officially be done in a couple days but I still don’t have all the numbers.
Answer “will file”
I had a little trouble and I ended up submitting it at 12:04AM.
Of course I originally sent it on Feb 1 so I’m not sure if it will be late (Indiana’s state fafsa deadline was 3/10/16)
My EFC is 025579
The date that you updated the FAFSA is irrelevant. It’s the original submission date that counts for any deadline. So that’s one thing at least that you don’t need to worry about!
Most brokerage statements don’t arrive until Feb 15. Given that, the Feb 1 deadline seems ridiculously early.
You need your parent completed 2015 tax return. Is it done?
Apparently now they have the figures for 2015. To be honest, their business records for 205 should have at least given them a ballpark figure …but that’s old news now.
Here is your issue. At this point, your FAFSA and Profile have been filed with “will file” status. Any financial aid package you are awarded with that will file status will be an ESTIMATE. The finalized package will only come once your FAFSA has been amended to reflect the completed 2015 tax return. The schools will likely also require you to link yours and your parent FAFSA to the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. You can’t do this until 2-3 weeks after your parents electronically file their tax return. If they paper file, it might be 6-8 weeks.
I’m hoping your parents have that tax return completed so you can get this process done.
And you can update the Profile,but not online. It will be particularly critical that you do so because your family owns a business. Contact each of your Profile schools and ask them what to do.
You want to get this done ASAP so you will have an accurate financial aid award when you make your matriculation decision by May 1.
If their taxes are not done, if it were me…I would amend the FAFSA to reflect the accurate in me (although I’m not sure how you would know that when you have a business in the mix), and taxes paid.
Simply put…you don’t want a financial aid package based on 1/2 the income your family actually earned.
I think OP did update the numbers on FAFSA since EFC is now $25,000 plus. But won’t know the tax paid since tax return is not filed yet.
If the gross profit from business was $110,000, the actual net profit and AGI might be different, that’s what the finalized tax return will reveal. For CSS profile some of the business deductions will be added back in.
I agree get taxes done asap, efile if possible and pay any tax due at time of filing.
No the tax form is not officially done yet. It will be done in a couple of days. All I have done on the fafsa is change the income which is know is accurate.
I will email the schools that use the CSS profile about this.
The gross profit from the business was roughly $500,000 in 2015 but I’m not sure where I would put that on the fafsa?
The FAFSA would ask for the AGI, but you won’t have that until the tax return is done.
I would not put gross profit, use the number they gave you for income.
Yes, you can revise the CSS and yes, get the right detail, don’t just update one number. This is too important to mess up. When the tax info is in hand, go over the whole thing. And you aren’t the only one with the exact info just coming in now. I always called my kids’ finaid folks, but in our situation, we could actually reach someone. Btw, we were told to revise by hand on a copy of the original.
**oops, meant we revised the CSS on the original.
Okay so my parent’s taxes are finally done! My parents just handed over their tax form to me. So the AGI is $98,000.