Question on residency for Financial Aid!

<p>I have a NY residence and I go to college in NY. However I also have a NJ address that's not my primary residence. When I submitted my taxes I accidentally put the NJ address on the federal 1040. I am now worried that I won't be about to get my NY financial aid because my school might think I'm an out of state resident. One more piece of information is I didn't file my state taxes yet.</p>

<p>I need to know how to proceed from here. Should I put the NY address on the FAFSA and the NY TAP (their in state tuition assistance program for residents) forms and leave the federal taxes as is with the NJ address? Or do I have to first amend my federal taxes to change the address? Also, if I put my NY address down when filing my state taxes without changing the address on the federal taxes, will my school be able to look in some database and find out if I have different addresses for my federal and state taxes? I'm so concerned that I'll lose my financial aid because of this... college is so expensive! Help me find a way out of my mistake. Thanks!</p>

<p>Clarification: I am an independent student over the age of 24 and my state of legal residence is NY. I don’t live in NJ just stay there sometimes with my family. My work, home and school is in NY.</p>

<p>No one here is going to know what a particular school might or might not look at, and what they might think about it. Maybe you should talk to the financial aid office at your college and tell them you accidently put your parents’ NJ address down on the 1040. Ask them if this is something you need to deal with, or if it’s okay to just file your FAFSA, your NY state taxes, etc. with your NY address. If it’s likely to cause some confusion, I imagine they can tell you that better than anyone here.</p>

<p>I think you need to talk to a tax person. If you put NJ on your federal tax return, I would think the implication is that you are a resident of NJ…which would shed a funny light on your NY taxes. If you are a NY resident, you file state taxes as a resident. If you are a NJ resident, you file NY taxes as a NON resident. </p>

<p>Talk to someone knowledgable about taxes. Maybe there is some way to amend your federal tax return to reflect your REAL place of residence.</p>

<p>Thank you for the advice. I’m thinking of just leaving the federal taxes as is and doing my NY state taxes and fafsa as normal.</p>

<p>File a IRS FORM 1040X to correct the address. Include both with your financial aid info and a letter to the financial aid office explaining the error, and by all means include the NY state return as further proof. Use your REAL address on all tax forms from here on out.</p>