<p>I used to get financial aid money. i followed all the step that the school required me to do or submit. I used the IRS data retrieval tool that year and i got some money to help with college. However, things got bad when my mom and him fought. We moved out of his house. They are now still married but i guess they would be called separated even though there is no paperwork saying that whatsoever. Anyway, i tried to use the IRS date retrieval tool again and it said it's not available. I became so stressed because when i asked him for those papers he didn't seem like he wanted to give it to me. and he said he didn't file taxes. i mean i know he gets a lot of tax money from us because i'm pretty sure he claims my mom, me and my brother as dependent. i'm not trying to get money from him but i'm trying to get some money from the government which i know i am more than qualified to get.
my friend told me that my mom could go to the IRS office and ask them for copied of those return transcript or account transcript. is that the way to go around my situation or there is another way? </p>
<p>please help!</p>
<p>Read the requirements for “separated” status. If your mother qualifies for that (doesn’t have to be IRS quailifed as separated, FAFSA’s is not as stringent), then you can file with just your mother as the custodial parent. If you’ve not yet filed FAFSA, that fact that your mother and step father are no longer living together, means that your mother can file as a single custodial parent as separated. It’s the day you file the FAFSA and whether your mother is living iwth your step father that day, that determines that status. </p>
<p>i’m only 21 and i don’t know much about those tax return. i told my mom to file tax herself and claim me and my brother, so that i can use those info for FAFSA, but she said that “then us three won’t get health insurance from my stepdad.” granted that his health insurance is a good plan. is that true that if she file and claim me and brother. we won’t get health care. my mom works at a salon. so she doesn’t really have any healthcare if she gets divorce from my stepdad.</p>
<p>Do you mean you tried the data retrieval tool this year for the 2014-15 FAFSA? It won’t be available to anyone until Feb. 2. When did you move out of your dad’s house? You can file fafsa marking your parents as separated even though there isn’t any paperwork. Then you only need to include your and your mom’s income and tax info. Will your mom be filing a tax return for 2013? How your dad files doesn’t affect that only your mom’s info is needed on fafsa. It may affect how you provide tax info to the school if you are selected for verification. Is your dad providing any support to you and your mom?</p>
<p>You need to fill out the 2014 FAFSA for the school year Fall 2014-2015, right? AT this moment your mother and step parent are separated. They are living apart right now. DOn’t even think about taxes–it’s a whole separate issue. The FAFSA only has to do with financial aid and has different rules. So your mother fills out the FAFSA, as separated. Has NOTHING to do with the tax forms. </p>
<p>Now as far as her 2013 taxes, that is something SHE and your step dad have to figure out together, as to whether they file separately or together, and whether they are separated by your state laws, and whether your step dad is going to keep you all on health insurance, etc, etc. That’s a whole different thing from the FAFSA, and they don’t have to match. They aren’t living together on FAFSA file date, they are separated You mother puts down her income and asset information and you don’t need squat from step dad for the FAFSA. In fact, he 's going to need your mother’s W-2 information to do his taxes and claim all of those exemptions. So, your mother and he will have to have a discussion and get together about that. But this has NOTHING to do with your FAFSA/</p>
<p>This post became more of the tax issue rather than a FAFSA. i know how fafsa works quite clearly. However, something that really strikes me the most is that how my stepdad kept telling me he didn’t file taxes. My mom and me don’t really know how to file taxes (we never filed before) we moved to the US not long ago so the whole tax system we are not sure about. she doesn’t work for anyone but she is a independent contractor (she works at a salon and only pay state taxes, or other word is a gross receipt ) i’m sorry that this post leans toward a tax question than a FAFSA question. but i hope you guys can help me out. </p>
<p>Well, my wish is that My stepdad would file taxes (claim whoever on his tax i don’t care) in fact i want him to claim me so i can use that info for fafsa. I know it’s illegal to skip tax. then frankly why isn’t he in jail now? </p>
<p>The tax questions and the fafsa questions are related, but not because it affects whose income and tax info you put on fafsa. Regardless of whether your stepdad files or not and claims you or not, you will only include your mom’s income and tax info on fafsa because you lived with her more in the 12 months preceding filing fafsa. </p>
<p>The issue will be whether your fafsa will be selected for verification and how you will satisfy that verification if your mom doesn’t file taxes by herself. We don’t have enough detail to know whether your stepdad can legally file with your mom and whether he can legally claim you to provide more help with that at this point. The DRT and a tax transcript would both need to be based on legally filed returns to do any good.</p>
<p>Your stepdad’s taxes aren’t due. He doesn’t have to file til April 15.</p>
<p>That said, since he and your mom are separated, you dont’ use his info anyway on your FAFSA.</p>
<p>If you think your SD should be in jail for not filing his taxes, then your mom should be as well because hers aren’t filed either. But, they’re not in any violation of the law.</p>
<p>If your mother is an independent contractor, she probably owes some Self-Employment taxes. The staff at her own local public library should be able to put her in touch with a qualified volunteer tax-preparer who can help her through all of the paperwork. Or, she can ask her co-workers to recommend a paid tax-preparer or preparation service. The math really isn’t that hard - I do all our taxes myself. But your mom might not want to deal with this on her own right now.</p>
<p>OP, why do you want your stepdad to file his taxes when it has nothing to do with your FAFSA status? We keep telling you that your mother is separated for FAFSA purposes since she and your stepdad do not live together right now.</p>
<p>Taxes for the 2013 yeard do not have to be filed until April 15. Many tax forms have not even been sent out yet. We’ve been getting tax information this week and expect it will continue for a bit longer–can’t remember what the deadline is. So many folks are still waiting for their w-2s and other such forms that are needed. </p>
<p>is it for 2012 that your stepfather did not file taxes? </p>
<p>It takes a while for the IRS to usually go after an individual for not filing taxes, and then they will send notices, and amounts due with fines and interest,plus and chance to work it out with them. For 2013, the taxes returns are not even due, and the late notices may not have even gone out for those delinquent in 2012. </p>
<p>Again, your stepfather claiming you as a dependent and getting an exemption …or not, makes NO difference for your FAFSA for the 2014-15 school year.</p>
<p>When she files her taxes, does she have to claim me in order for me to get federal aid? i don’t work, and i am an dependent individual. My mom actually got a notice to file her 2012. with that being said, my guess is that my stepdad actually didn’t file taxes for 2012, which is why i don’t get grants cause i can’t give the school all the paperwork. </p>
<p>i will do some research on how my mom could get her taxes done professionally. If the volunteer at the library could help for no charge that is great!! thanks for the comments and helps! i’m glad i found this site! I will ask more questions if i have any! </p>
<p>P.S. since my mother works at a salon, what is her income based on? i mean she doesn’t even get W-2! </p>
<p>No, she does NOT have to claim you.</p>
<p>Rules for taxes are NOT the same as rules for FAFSA. Your SF can still claim you on his taxes.</p>
<p>Your mom may be considered an independent contractor. So her income would be based on what she rec’d.</p>
<p>We keep saying the same danged thing. The only thing that matters on FAFSA is which parent (step parent doesn’t count unless he legally adopted you) you lived with the most for a year before the FAFSA is filed. So Step dad isn’t even in the picture for FAFSA if your mom isn’t living with him. It’s separate from the tax return. Your step dad can claim you as a dependent for the tax return by IRS rules, and your mother fills out the parent part of FAFSA and if she is separated on the day she fills it out. Now YOU are probably going to fill it out for your mother, but do realize that the questions are for HER on that part, not YOU. </p>
<p>What is the story with 2012? Didn’t you already get aid for the first term of this fall 2013-2014 school year to pay some of your first semester? If you are now trying to get money for this school year beginning fall of 2013 and ending this spring 2014, and it turns out your step dad did not file is 2012 taxes, then you have a problem. Are you trying to get money now for the school year that you are in right now? </p>
<p>My guess is that the OP is panicking about the 2013 FAFSA which covers the school year we are currently in. Stepdad and MOm did not file 2012 taxes. If that is the case, it does become an issue as to whether the rules that say that status as of the actual date FAFSA is filed is what counts, since it then becomes a situation where the mother is currently separated. </p>
<p>Hopefully Kelsmom will answer this question: If a student is just now filling out FAFSA for 2013-14 school year in process and the custodial parent is right now separated as of a few months ago, not the current FAFSA but for the prior year, what is the status used, the date of signature or some other date? </p>
<p>Also, did you file the FAFSA already for this school year you are in already? Is your problem that you filed this particular FAFSA, the 2013 one which comvers the 2013-2014 school year, the current one, and no taxes were filed for stepdad and mom. If that is the case…if you already filed that 2013 FAFSA for the school year you already are in, then you do need your stepfather to file taxes for verification or you do not get money for this school year IF your mother were living with your stepfather on the date that FAFSA was signed.</p>
<p>“Your mom may be considered an independent contractor. So her income would be based on what she rec’d.”</p>
<p>I need to add to this. If your mom is considered to be an independent contractor, then she may have deductable expenses associated with her job. If she has to buy any of her materials, rent her space, etc, those are deductable expenses. </p>
<p>When she filed with your dad, how was she including her income on their taxes? Or was she not declaring any income?</p>
<p>I think the main concern right now is whether OP’s stepfather filed his 2012 tax returns. If he did not, and if mom was still living with step dad on the date the 2013 FAFSA was filed, OP gets no aid for the 2013-14 year until those tax returns are filed and the numbers can be verified against the 2013 FAFSA , if OP has already filed this FAFSA and the school is asking for verification with tax returns which are non existent, there will be a problem especially if mom and stepdad were NOT separated on the day that FAFSA was signed and submitted. That is the crucal question in this. If that FAFSA was filed, was it filed after or before your mother moved out of your stepfather’s residence? If it was filed AFTER the split up, the actual move out, the FAFSA can be corrected with just your mother’s info and she can now file taxes herself for 2012 if your stepfather has not. If they were together, you would need your stepfather’s info. Separated means having moved out, and if a correction is going to be made, there would have to be some proof that she moved out before the date of FAFSA SUbmission.</p>
<p>OP, have you filed the FAFSA that gives EFC for the school year starting this past fall (2013) of which we are now in the second semester? Is this the issue that is the problem for you? </p>