<p>Should I file in whatever it says on the W2, or should i try to round down?</p>
<p>You file what it says on the W2</p>
<p>aren't they looking for adjusted gross income?</p>
<p>Yes it is the AGI</p>
<p>well.. she should not take whatever it says on the w2 then, because that does not include any deductions like home mortgage interest etc. My adjusted gross income is a good 10k less than my gross income.</p>
<p>The AGI is not the number after deductions like mortgage. Mortgage deductions are included in 'itemized deductions' which are deducted from your AGI to get your taxable income.</p>
<p>The FAFSA asks for the AGI which is line 37 on the 2007 1040. Itemized deductions are after that on line 40 and taxable income is line 43. But that is not what FAFSA asks for.</p>
<p>from the FAFSA instructions at Completing</a> the FAFSA 08-09/The Application Questions(32-47)
[quote]
35. Adjusted Gross Income. **Provide your (and your spouse's) adjusted gross income (AGI) for 2007. AGI is found on IRS Form 1040—line 37; 1040A—line 21; or 1040EZ—line 4. **If you have not completed a 2007 tax form, you should calculate your AGI using the instructions for the applicable IRS form. You can get the instructions and the form at a public library or download them in Portable Document Format (PDF)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>FAFSA doed not take itemized deductions into account.</p>
<p>my parents havnt filed their Form 1040... should I wait to complete the tax information when they do file it so I can look at the 2007 Form 1040?</p>
<p>I was just looking at my Parents' Form W-2 Wage and Tax Statement 2007</p>
<p>Don't automatically use what's on the W-2 where it asks for your AGI or you are likely to end up with too high a number. There are some deductions that happen before the AGI is calculated, though unfortunately mortgage isn't one of them.</p>
<p>The best way to figure this out is to look at at 1040 form, which you can find at irs.gov. The W-2 number goes on the first line in the "Income" section. Other income is added in too - for example, interest from savings accounts, alimony received, things like that. All the income is added up. </p>
<p>Then some deductions are taken: moving expenses, self-employment tax, self-employment health insurance, health savings account contribution, IRA contribution, interest paid on student loans, etc. All of these are added up and subtracted from the total income. What's left is the Adjusted Gross Income, or AGI. That's the number you put on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>dbguy4eva: You can make estimates based on the 2006 AGI, if you compare the 2006 numbers with the W-2 (or year-end pay stubs, if you didn't have that) for 2007 to take into account how different the incomes are for the two different years.</p>
<p>You can estimate numbers and file FAFSA then correct later. </p>
<p>If they think their AGI is similar to 2006 you can put that. If they think there will be a substantial difference then have them make an educated guess.</p>
<p>Some funds may be limited and, supposedly, schools process finaid apps in the order they are recieved so the conventional wisdom is file as early as possible then make adjustments. My D filed FAFSA last week - we should get all out final tax info next week and will file taxes then and adjust FAFSA accordingly. Not sure those few days will make a difference but don't want to take that chance!</p>
<p>Calreader is correct - make sure any items between the W2 and the AGI are added (such as interest/dividend income) or deducted (such as alimony payments etc). Here is a link to a 1040 form showing what goes into the AGI
<a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf</a></p>
<p>I just woke up to the fact that the OP was asking about the W2 numbers - and I said file W2 numbers which is WRONG - don't know where my brain was. Sorry. It should of course be the AGI.</p>