Question regarding FAFSA.

Paying for College
1

I have been doing some thinking, and I have a question regarding FAFSA.

During the Summer of 2015, I held a job as a math tutor for a little over a month, at my high school, and I was on payroll. I am positive that I made less than a thousand dollars, so I did not have to file taxes, but I still did have earned income for 2015. Question 39 on FAFSA asks “student’s 2015 Income Earned from Work,” and I reported $0; however, I am kind of worried because I did hold a job. I never received a W-2 from my district, which I should have got since I had to pay federal tax and other taxes. I just recently went to an IRS field office for a letter of verification of non-filing, which I got. On there it says “we have no record of a filed form 1040, 1040A, or 1040EZ… you can consider this letter a verification of non-filing.” I would assume that the possession of this letter would be “proof” that I had no earned income from 2015 because taxes were never filed.

Should I leave my FAFSA form as is, or should I amend it?

2

You should correct your FAFSA.
‘Earned income’ and ‘non-filing’ are two different things.
You HAD earned income, which you need to report. It doesn’t matter whether you got a W2 or not.
You did not meet the income threshold for filing taxes, hence ‘non-filer’.

3

Your assumption is wrong. What you received was proof that you did not file a tax return for 2015. By your own admission you had earned income. There are lots of people who have earned income but for whatever reason (legitimate or not) did not file a tax return reporting that income.

You should amend your FAFSA, because as you describe the situation you filed a fraudulent FAFSA. You need to report all earned income on the FAFSA, regardless of whether or not you filed a tax return.

4

If the income is very small (like a few hundred) does it really matter? I doubt it affects your award.
Also, depending on state it might be too late

5

There is a BIG difference between a non-filers statement and having NO income.

  1. A non-filers statement is documentation that you did NOT file federal income taxes and were not required to do so. It tells why. You weren't required to file...because you didn't meet the income threshold for filing as an employee.

However…are you positive you were hired as an employee, and not as a 1099 contract worker?

  1. Your income was low enough that you didn't have to file a federal tax return...but you DID have income...and therefore you must include that income on your FAFSA.

SOOOO.

  1. Amend your FAFSA to include your income.
  2. Complete the non-filers statement and send to your college.
6

I don’t understand what you mean. You say you received income and had to pay taxes. But if your income was low enough to not have to file a tax return, then you could still have filed a return and got all federal tax withheld back (if you didn’t owe any).

If the income was self employment income then I believe you needed to file a tax return if it was over $400.

Anyway, you should correct you FAFSA to reflect what you think you earned, were you paid by check?

7

Not really. It says you didn’t file, but not why or that you didn’t have to.

If you did have withholdings, it is not too late to file an amended return and get that money.