<p>wake forest university requires applicants to submit their parents' tax forms through IDOC by march 1st.</p>
<p>However, my mother is not complying and she simply says she does not have the money to get an accountant, so she may be filing for an Oct 15 extension.</p>
<p>If that turns out to be the case, then I dont see how I can possibly meet March 1st, or even may 1st tax return copy deadlines.</p>
<p>In lesser concerns, do we just mail our parents' tax forms in an envelope and hope the respective financial aid offices know who the applicant is and what to do with them?</p>
<p>However, my mother is not complying and she simply says she does not have the money to get an accountant, so she may be filing for an Oct 15 extension.</p>
<p>This sounds odd. If your mom knows that you need to submit these forms soon, and she’s saying that she may not file until Oct 15 because she doesn’t have the money to pay for an accountant, then is the (silent) message that she can’t afford to send you to Wake?</p>
<p>Do you know what your EFC is? If it’s a decent amount, then perhaps your mom can’t afford that amount.</p>
<p>OP-offer to do your mother’s taxes for you…I had to do our taxes in order to get financial aid forms in in time…my parents “wouldn’t file until april” unless I did it…so i did</p>
<p>my EFC is 00000 lmao
hmmm and I have thought about doing my taxes for my parents but
I dont know how or what the numbers are or are supposed to be!</p>
<p>^^Agree…if in fact you did a preliminary FAFSA calculation and if it appears you may have a 0 EFC then your mother’s taxes should be very, very simple. There is free tax prep and filing software available on-line. You might offer to help your mother get through it. If you have zero EFC, then it is ridiculous to take precious money to pay someone to do taxes. If you had taxes taken out of any part-time work earnings you should file also.</p>
<p>well to be frank, my mother is not the brightest woman on the block
I would do it for her, but like I said, I have no idea what he rearnings are, wether or not she can claim various tax credits, how to derive most of the answers to the questions listed in the CSS profile, etc.</p>
<p>The Irs offers a FREE tax preparer service called VITA. check the IRS website to see if there is one near u. They are usually at senior centers, community colleges or town halls. Some colleges host them for their students in the accounting program for real life experience. The IRS trains the volunteers who assist people needing help. they are well trained and should be able to help you. Also, see if you guidance counselor might now of someone who could help you. Most people do not need accountants. TURBOTAX is also incredibly user friendly, it asks you questions, you answer and it fills out the form. It is available online or at any store for about $25.</p>
<p>Have you explained this to her? That you won’t get aid without her help? Does she not WANT you to go to college? If it ends up she doesn’t have to pay anything, I’m wondering WHY she’s saying this. Seems like you have to get to the “real deal” to make head way. All the suggestions on here sound great. With an EFC of zero, filing taxes should be pretty easy. Does she have her W-2 (from income/salary/earnings). Do you rent or own a home? If a home - see if she has her 1098 to show taxes she paid, and any 1099s (if you have any savings accounts). There is much more to it, unless there are a lot more complications. But…I’m guessing there aren’t. You just answer a couple of pages of questions and you’re done. AT that income, she’ll probably get a refund. Maybe she’s worried she’ll owe taxes this year. If memory serves, you STILL have to pay what you estimate to be due (or face penalties) even if you file for an extension. So - maybe start with explaining this is the ONLY way you can get aid, and asking WHY (in a nice way), and offering to do anything possible to help.</p>
<p>There is also free tax prep software online. ([TaxACT®</a> Free Tax Preparation Software, file taxes online, free e-filing](<a href=“http://www.taxact.com/]TaxACT®”>http://www.taxact.com/)) You will need any W-2s or 1099s (forms that would have been sent to you mom for any paid work she did this year). If she was unemployed and receiving unemployement there will be a paper that she received with that information. Same for social security or any other state or govenment payments. You will need bank statements (that will show any interest on accounts, mortgages, etc.) You will need to know if she received a refund of any taxes last year. You will need the total amount she spent on medical: premium costs, amount paid to docs for perscriptions, etc. You will need to know what she paid in real estate taxes if she owns the house you live in. You will need to know if she has any money saved in retirement accounts like a 401K or an IRA or if there is money saved anywhere. I can’t think of anything else but regardless everything you need should have arrived in the mail during the month of January or for the most part would be available on-line if you know the names and account numbers. Bottom line is you can probably do this. Ask her to sit with you as you go through the forms. Did she do the parent part on the FAFSA or where are you with that? Are you missing deadlines at the schools where you applied? You cannot miss deadlines right now so you just might have to sit with her and get through this for your own sake. Do you have a worse case plan/Plan B: e.g. CC for a year, defer college for a year or a local college you can commute to?</p>
<p>Ask your parents to give you copies of their 2008 taxes, as a working sample.
Use free TaxAct online, it’s a great help for a beginner with simple taxes.
Based on that you should be able to figure out your parents’ taxes just fine. Unless there’s something merky in their 2009 financial situation, that requires advanced accountant…
Lastly, if your mother did hire an accountant already, ask an accountant if s/he can meet those deadlines for FA. An accountant should understand how important this is, and might give your parents a priority.</p>
<p>Maybe they are trying to sabotage you because you refer to them in such derogatory terms. If my kids referred to my husband as a buffoon and said I wasn’t the brightest woman on the block I wouldn’t go out of my way to help them either. Wow!</p>
<p>Maybe I’m totally wrong…but something sounds very fishy about this whole situation.</p>
<p>Families who need “his and hers” accountants don’t usually have 0 EFCs. Sounds to me that there’s been some “fancy math” going on (perhaps some voodoo business deductions) in order to appear to have a low income for a 0 EFC.</p>
<p>Plus, how did he do his FAFSA already, if income info isn’t known?</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom…true dat. This is truly the… 10th (?) time or so I’ve heard a kid on CC calling their parents names. While it offends me beyond all belief…I also wonder if no one has heard you “catch more flies with honey than vinegar”. I myself would be filling out ALL possible forms though - to get such child a nice college education, as cheaply as I could, as quickly as I could.</p>
<p>I agree with the name calling…really awful. The chilling thing is that if this one is asking questions about IDOC this one is applying to some really, really expensive colleges and utilizing CSS. If one has a zero EFC one should be really on top of the finaid situation and accurate with whatever is being told to this colleges. I’ll help anyone on-line if I can, but I did have to bite my tongue about the parental slams.</p>
<p>ooo u guys do not know the rifts that exist between my parents and I…</p>
<p>anyways my EFC of 0 was achieved because my father filled out the FAFSA</p>
<p>he is unemployed (or self employed, as he likes to think of himself)
he makes like 13k a year but my mom also lives in the same house (divorced, mom pays all the bills, dad just stays in the basement but it is he who claimed me as a tax dependent)</p>
<p>so my mom is the noncustodial, but schools require photocopies of her tax forms anyway
that is why I need them</p>