<p>We have a substantial tax refund due to us for 2011 taxes. If we choose to apply it to 2012 taxes will we need to report the applied amount as a parent asset on the CSS Profile? Thanks.</p>
<p>So you’re trying to hide an asset by having the IRS “bank” hold it for X years? Sounds sketchy to me…</p>
<p>Only you know the answer to that. Have you decreased your witholding this year in anticipation of the application of the refund to next year’s taxes? If the thinking is simply rolling over refunds from year to year until your kiddo graduates it’s a zero sum game in my opinion since the amount that refund will impact your EFC is probably not significant and if you’re getting a “substantial refund” chances are you aren’t Pell eligible anyway. Profile colleges/unis will do what they want with the information on your tax return. This is just my opinion.</p>
<p>I agree with the sketchy comment. It didn’t pass my ‘sniff test’ either but at the same time I don’t want to make a poor financial decision. I am not a finance whiz and this wasn’t planned: We just received our final 2011 tax returns from the accountant as we were preparing to apply for FA for the first time. I’ve been reviewing strategies to optimize FA and the asset question struck me when I looked at the refund line and the option to apply it toward 2012 taxes.</p>
<p>Carrying over the refund a year was a bad idea. Thank you both for helping me see this clearly.</p>
<p>It would seem a fine idea if you expected to have to send in that amount during the next year as pre-payments. Otherwise, maybe not so much.</p>