<p>I've worked a part-time job for below minimum wage since 2006. My boss is a family friend who owns a small business and the work was very flexible in the earlier years and so I'd work once a month. This past 6 months, I worked approx 5-6 hours/wk, still receiving cash payments under the table.</p>
<p>The problem is that my application for admission reports that I work 6 hrs/wk, but I don't feel comfortable reporting the untaxed income on my financial aid forms. If the admissions committee and the financial aid office communicate regularly with each other, it would look fishy that I haven't earned as much as I should have in 4 years' time, because I've only started working regularly in June. I also don't want to land my boss in hot water. Can I leave it off entirely, and claim it as immaterial?</p>
<p>I should also mention that I didn't report it on the CSS profile.</p>
<p>I’m not a tax expert…but you really ARE supposed to report this income on your taxes. If you put it on one finaid form (the FAFSA) then the schools are certainly going to wonder why it’s not on the other (Profile). If you are selected for verification at any point, you will be required to provide ALL tax information to the schools.</p>
<p>Agree with Thumper about the requirement to declare income, but I’m doubtful that something you put on your admissions application (I assume you mean under the catagory of EC’s, work, community involvement type activities?) would be in the picture at all when a college FA office is working up your aid award. My guess is that they’ll just be looking at the your FAFSA, Profile and any other documents required specifically when applying for aid.</p>
<p>Now, I’m not sure of that, of course, and procedures will vary between schools in countless ways… but I would think it’s unlikely the FA office would be looking at your list of ECs. They could certainly, and if they do it may raise some questions, so you’d be well-advised to answer them now or be prepared to answer them later – but I also think it may well never come up.</p>
<p>Totally just my completely speculative OPINION, though! Not worth enough to buy a cup of coffee with!</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters much. FINAID looks at student assets heavily but 1k or 2k doesn’t mean alot. Also, If someone did baby sitting or lawn mowing should you report that income? I would let it go and not report it. They expect you to earn a certain amount during school and another amount during the summer regardless of what your did during high school</p>
<p>Hmmm…I just read this and it’s got me wondering.</p>
<p>For the FAFSA and the CSS Profile, I put $0 for my income. However, I did have a summer job at Deutsche Bank and it was on the books. I figured that <2k would not make that big of a difference, so I didn’t report it. However, for the non-filer’s statement (IDOC’s)…would I HAVE to report it? Or would it look fishy? However, I did include this job in my common app under jobs and stuff.</p>
<p>The only thing is…for Smith’s application, I included it in their non-filer’s. </p>
<p>Woe is meeeee!</p>
<p>Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.</p>
<p>(Sorry for hijacking your thread, Keilinger!)</p>
<p>EDIT: Also, for Smith’s FinAid application, it asks how much you, the student, has left from summer earnings, and I put $0 there. (Yup, I spend it all. Haha.) So, I figure, it can’t be that big of a deal.</p>
<p>Just report what you earn. You should have listed it on your FAFSA (as should the OP), but at least you were right to report it on your non-filer’s statement. If the school feels it should make a correction on the FAFSA, they can do that. Don’t make decisions for yourself about what is “that big of a difference” and what isn’t. Just report accurate numbers. They’re not asking for judgment calls, they’re asking for numbers. Most students make incomes like yours, of course they are to be reported.</p>
<p>I’m going to again say…honesty is the best policy. The OP keeps saying “what will happen if A talks to B?” Clearly, this would not be a concern AT ALL if everything had been reported honestly.</p>
<p>I do agree that babysitting money and the like (these are small amounts) do not need to be reported. BUT there was a Supreme Court justice nominee who did NOT get appointed because it was discovered she was paying household help “under the table”. </p>
<p>The most important thing about these forms is that you fill them out honestly. I’m sorry, but in my opinion, your generous relative should have “paid you” in birthday gifts or something like that. You could have listed your “work” as volunteer work and still have received some money for doing this. I hope the under the table money didn’t come out of the company accounts. Companies are not supposed to pay folks “under the table”.</p>