I used the DRT (data retrieval tool) to import my tax return info for the fafsa.
But my husband had a rollover from one qualified account to another.
The tax return indicates the amount and the taxable amount of 0 with the word “rollover” yet it seems to be included.
A quick google search tells me that this has been included as income.
A call to fafsa and they claim to know nothing. They just say to contact the fa office. She’s applying to numerous schools so accurate EFC info would be valuable to have now. The fafsa people can’t/won’t change anything to have this not look like taxable income.
Should (can I?) redo the faf without using the DRT? I can’t see any of the figures used “for security.”
If I contact one school, can they fix it so that the other schools can see it? This is what fafsa says but that sounds fishy.
You actually do have to report this separately to each school’s financial aid office. They will want proof of the rollover and will manually fix it on their end. The electronic FAFSA process is not able to handle the rollover automatically, so you have to deal with it this way.
I have a question … were you asked a question about your rollover? Supposedly, you should have been - and you would have been given a chance to enter the amount. Maybe you missed it?
Schools absolutely will remove the amount of the rollover with the proper documentation! As in, they have to (although some may take longer than others to do it).
Unfortunately the “opportunity” was also sent over by the IRS so I can’t edit.
It clearly says “ROLLOVER” and it clearly says the taxable amount is 0
However, since I can’t see anything that was imported, I’m just guessing that this is the problem.
We’re pretty simple, one w-2, a small amount of interest and that’s it!
The not so helpful people at Fafsa claim never to have heard of this problem even though I’ve now found forms on college websites specifically addressing this. They tell me I must have income from a small business or rental property. Nope and nope.
I’d love to do the whole thing over and just enter manually. It looks like I then might have to provide a transcript from the irs but that might be easier. I can’t tell yet whether I am able to do that after spending ridiculous amounts of time on the phone with fafsa.
The issue was raised the past couple years at the Federal Student Aid conference. We were told that what is being done is the best fix they have. I am sure aid officers will continue to bring it up, because it is a hot topic.
Fortunately my husband’s rollover was an amount that made it very obvious that there was a mistake somewhere. I appreciate all the input. When I realized what might have happened, I looked to see if I could correct it. I did not see anywhere that I could have entered differently or checked a box. Everything that looked relevant to income was imported, and unable to be viewed or changed.
But what about the people who don’t rollover an amount that makes it so obvious? I was looking to that figure in order to work out a strategy on where my daughter should apply, public vs private, but that’s not possible. At least I realized that something was wrong. That is very unfortunate for those who don’t realize and their kids don’t apply based on numbers that are beyond their reach but not unrealistic that they explore. I was told to expect unrealistic but not unfathomable.
I haven’t contacted any offices yet due to college visits. I’m hoping they can/will give me a more realistic figure. Theoretically, since they all use the same figures without any optional stuff like css, all the colleges should come up with the same efc, correct?
Your actual family contribution…what you need to actually pay…will likely vary quite a bit from college to college. Much is related to the financial aid awarding policies of the colleges, and the costs to attend.
The problem is that the person that has any IRA distribution event will get a 1099R, so they have to report that on their tax return, even though it might not be taxable. The tax return says that it is a rollover and that line 15b on 1040 for example is $0.
But the FAFSA considers untaxed income too so untaxed IRA distributions are counted, unless it is a rollover.
The DRT seems to bring over the untaxed IRA distributions from the tax return, so it brings over line 15a-15b on the 1040 for example.
Then one of the FAFSA questions asks if there has been a rollover.
If you looked at all of the FAFSA questions, you shouldn’t have missed it.
@mommdc, are you saying that if one uses the DRT tool and makes the correct selections on the FAFSA tool it is possible to get the rollover accounted for without having to later manually call the colleges?
By the way, does the rollever affect the gross income number on the tax return? I had to do a direct 401k to IRA rollover this year, not sure what that’s going to do filing taxes after January.
@mommdc, are you saying that if one uses the DRT tool and makes the correct selections on the FAFSA tool it is possible to get the rollover accounted for without having to later manually call the colleges?
In theory, that is what is supposed to happen.
The rollover does not affect AGI on the tax return, as long as it’s a qualified direct rollover.
The DRT just imports the tax return info into FAFSA. But then the FAFSA has questions about untaxed income like pretax retirement contributions, tax free IRA distributions, and others. Among those questions I saw a question about a rollover.
I don’t know if it can still be corrected after submitting FAFSA.
You mention a 401k. Did you answer the question about pre-tax 401k contributions in the year 2017 on the FAFSA?
@mommdc , Thanks for asking, in my particular case this was an old 401k that was still at a previous (years ago) employer, no recent (2017) pre-tax contributions.
Not to be discouraging, but when this happened to me (my student was already a student), I had to wait until financial aid was offered (or not - because of the roll over issue) and then file papers to appeal. They were not willing to do anything prior to processing the FAFSA and calculating aid. Hopefully the schools you contact will be more accommodating. It was sorted out and he did get the aid…
Nope…person submitting the FAFSA can NOT change the rollover error once the FAFSA has been submitted. The college needs to make this change…with documentation of the rollover provided to them.
I sure wish the FAFSA folks would make this possible…to make this correction…because it seems lots of people miss the rollover question and box to check.
I mean really…why can’t this field be corrected? Seems like it should be an easy thing to change. @kelsmom
when you mention file papers to appeal, means you submit the 1099R and other information to proof it is rollover to school? or you appeal to FAFSA office?