<p>@swimcatsmom-- Yes that is correct. He is a plumber–an hourly paid worker ($27+/hr) for a total of about 50,000/year
and he is not filing.</p>
<p>Are you saying that your mom has been filing as HOH using her income (which is now gone), so your dad hasn’t been filing at all??? If so, that is a problem…and could mean he owes back taxes and penalties…and penalties for not filing.</p>
<p>Next year, when your mom files, they’ll be no point in her filing HOH since her income will be minimal (whatever she earned this year before losing her job). At that point, your dad should certainly file correctly. </p>
<p>You sound like a hard worker, but to be honest, your SAT is not ivy-quality. Congrats on bringing it up, but unless you can get it in the 2200+ range, you won’t be that competitive for ivies. I know that you recently brought your SAT up by a few hundred points, but I doubt that kind of improvement will continue. I don’t know of anyone who has brought their SAT from a 1540 - 2200+ over a few months time. </p>
<p>And, keep in mind…the ivies reject kids with 2200+ SATs all the time. The ivies only accept something like 8-10% of applicants. So, may top students get rejected. </p>
<p>I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t try to improve your score or you shouldn’t apply to ivies, but you need to have a Plan B, either way. You need to work on your scores either way because you need some financial safeties…schools that will give you $$ for your stats
**</p>
<p>i dont know how hard it would be for my mom to change her status.**</p>
<p>Your dad doesn’t have to make her do anything …the IRS will. All your dad has to do is file his taxes as “Married filing separately,” and eventually the IRS will contact your mom and send her a bill for taking an unlawful exemption. However, if she’s willing to “come clean” and file correctly, then hopefully the ex-con accountant can help with that. (How come he can still practice???)</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear that your mom has been reading some of these posts. She needs to get her head out of the sand and stop acting impulsively without any concern for any negative outcomes…including your ability to get financial aid. </p>
<p>As for her returning to school…bad idea right now…your parents are likely going to be facing some financial penalties…she needs to get another job and start setting some money aside to pay for these penalties. She helped create this situation; she needs to “man up” and do what it takes to clean up the mess they made.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids-- okay thanks.
actually my school just had two kids go to top schools (columbia and john hopkins) who had lower sats than i do. one had an 1850 (didnt break a 700 in any category), the other probably a 1890.</p>
<p>and goddamnit i just dont want anyone to get arrested -_-
also, if they end up having to owe $100,000, are those commercials about companies helping people pay the irs just phony?</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard, they are scams. Mainly because the Feds don’t compromise because they don’t have to. There are some reputable credit unions in which they will help you get a loan to pay your taxes and then you pay off the loan. I doubt your parents will be arrested and they can find a reputable credit agency to help them.</p>
<p>
On the other hand, if he gets paid on a W-2 and they withhold taxes, he could actually be getting a refund. You don’t know he’d owe. I tend to go with the former, since if he owed, he would have heard from the IRS by now. They do get a copy of the W-2 you know.</p>
<p>OP: Have your mother amend hers to file as joint with your father for 2009. There will be no penalty or interest if they actually even owe as long as it’s done by April 15. Then from now on, do it correctly going forward. Then they can decide how to fix the last few years. Don’t stress so much. This can be worked out and it might not even be too bad.</p>
<p>Yes I highly doubt they will be arrested. As my mom would say “don’t cross bridges before you get there” go with your parents, figure out a solution and take it one step on a time. It’s a darn good thing you are a junior! You’ll have plenty of time to figure “stuff” out and there is awful good advice here on suggestions for great colleges that have good merit aid etc. for students like you if necessary…just ask and ask early! By the way are you by any chance a diversity/minority student? That can give you a boost at some colleges/unis…</p>
<p>I’m puzzled as to why your Mom was doing this in the first place (not to mention why an accountant would sign off on it). Was your Mom filing getting earned income tax credit (EITC)?</p>
<p>^^I’m guessing that and was “hiding” the dad’s income or was filing only with her income and hiding the dad’s income although if the dad were being paid legitimately and having taxes withheld than it makes less sense because unless she figured it both ways she’d never know what the “real” tax implications were which is why no one could be certain they are in tons of back taxes and fines situation. If the dad was being paid cash with no taxes withheld then she may have thought they’d never get caught or need to correct the situation so simply filed based on “herself” as head of household. I could see a bunch of potential scenarios.</p>
<p>OP, is your dad self-employed?</p>
<p>actually my school just had two kids go to top schools (columbia and john hopkins) who had lower sats than i do.</p>
<p>When students with such scores get accepted to places like Columbia and JHU, it’s usually for another reason…URM, sports, or they live in an unusual area. It is very hard for an un-hooked student with a sub 2000 SAT to get into ivies these days. I can imagine the odds would be like 1 in 50+</p>
<p>On the other hand, if he gets paid on a W-2 and they withhold taxes, he could actually be getting a refund. You don’t know he’d owe.</p>
<p>If the dad has never owed taxes for the years that he never filed, then there may not be a penalty. The dad may have withheld just enough to cover what was owed. However, without filing, it’s hard to be sure about that. </p>
<p>That said, if that’s what’s been going on, then the mom may have thought she was being clever then by not mentioning his income and only filing herself as HOH. There probably will be penalties associated with that since she has suggested that she got more money back that way. </p>
<p>I don’t know if the IRS would consider the dad innocent in all this. He can’t really claim that he had no idea that his wife was doing this. By not filing on his own income (as married filing separately) it suggests that he didn’t file so that the IRS wouldn’t be alerted that the wife was filing improperly.</p>
<p>If this thread is serving as a wake-up call to your mom and dad then things are looking up. Maybe your accountant, even though he is a disgraced one, can help them set things right. It occurs to me that in light of your low family income you might qualify for a substantial amount of need-based assistance, it might really be in your parent’s best interest to set things right. I also doubt they are looking at being incarcerated, probably payments. But if they can pay the IRS back over time it might not be that bad.</p>
<p>@momofthreeboys-- lol no i know them. i have much stronger ecs and leadership position than they do (and i am also a URM). </p>
<p>I do not know what a W-2 is…is that simply when taxes are taken out of a paycheck?
i am about to research the terms now.
and I do not know what type of taxes she was receiving. </p>
<p>And no my dad is not self-employed</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids-- yups thats probably what my mom was thinking. she is in the belief that she is receiving more money as hoh</p>
<p>but since she is not working anymore, it will be very dumb to apply hoh in 2010</p>
<p>okay and thank god jail is not a high possibility</p>
<p>and really? i have a 1950…not a 1450…i can hit 2000+ with a bit more practice. i didnt start prep until last month and trust me, i am taking these sat practice ****s every week, and i am creeping up each time. a 2000+ is doable</p>
<p>thanks again for this advice,
i felt so lost and i didnt know who to turn to</p>
<p>Oh good glad you are feeling better! And yes you CAN find great schools with good merit money so keep asking questions. The bright side is you are going to know much about salaries, taxes and many things that many kids don’t learn unless they have fairly major part-time jobs (with tax money taken out of their paycheck that they want to get refunded.) A W-2 is a form that companies send to all employees at the end of the year or in January telling the employee how much money they earned and how much was deducted from their salary for federal and state income taxes, social security, retirement and other items. 1099s are forms that are also used to tell people information about income and earnings or sometimes for people that are paid by the job like a writer, artist, an independent contractor…stuff like that and also for most government payments, pensions, etc. Your dad will either have a W-2 or a 1099 depending on his particular work arrangement…your mom most likely had/has W-2s. If she had unemployment that will be most likely reported on a 1099. Good luck!</p>
<p>I’ll throw in a guess here…could the plumber dad be self employed…and doing the work…with cash payment only…and not declaring the income?? </p>
<p>OP…I know you’ve worked hard…but college isn’t free. There are very few free rides. With your family income of $50K per year, you would qualify for very significant aid at the most competitive colleges for admissions. These schools reject 90% or so of their applicants. Their generous financial aid does you no good if you don’t get accepted.</p>
<p>AND this tangled web with the IRS needs to be resolved. </p>
<p>PLEASE…under no circumstances should you falsify information on the FAFSA. YOUR signature is required on that for as well as your parents’. You do not want to put down information that you KNOW is fraudulent. JUST not a good idea.</p>
<p>Please try to clear up this issue with your family and the taxes and the filing status.</p>
<p>I don’t normally recommend H and R Block…but that would be better than someone who has been in jail.</p>
<p>okay thanks i understand a lot more now, thanks momofthreeboys :)</p>
<p>and yea i know top schools are hard to get into, so yea i do have many more safety schools on my list.</p>
<p>and once again, nopes my dad is not self-emplyed. he works for a very small company–he works side jobs too under his own thing.</p>
<p>and i will definitely get this thing sorted out
thank god i am confronting this now as a junior</p>