Separated parents, filing jointly... but confused for FAFSA

Paying for College
1

<p>My mother got married last year and we moved in with my step-father. By August, they were separated and my mother, brother, grandmother and I were living under a new roof. </p>

<p>My mother & step-father are separated(I'm pretty sure legally separated) but they are filing jointly on taxes.
This poses as a large problem for me.
My step-father provides us NO financial support nor has he since we moved out in August, but he makes a fair bit of money.
I'm filing under dependent for my mother because I lived with her more.
She made very little money last yer and is making even less now, so we're trudging along sparingly right now. However, with the problem of my step-father making as much as he does, I don't know what to do about the FAFSA forms. </p>

<p>With them filing jointly, I'm not sure how I'm going to put just my mother's information down, if I even can. They haven't filed taxes yet but they're going to soon and this is my first time doing FAFSA. </p>

<p>Will I have to put his information down? I've seen people have problems similar to this; how one number won't properly add up to the total return and whatnot.
If I don't have to put his information down, is there anything special I have to do? </p>

<p>I know my information above isn't clear or anything, a little sketch and all over the place, I'm sorry.
If any one has any help, please let me know. I've been stressing out a lot over this and I could really use some help.</p>

2

<p>If you mother and stepfather are separated, then only your mother’s information will be required for FAFSA. It doesn’t matter if they file taxes jointly or separately, although it will be easier for you if she files as head of household rather than jointly with her soon-to-be ex-husband.</p>

<p>To start with, have your mother look at her last 2010 paycheck - this will show total annual income and taxes withheld. She can get an estimate of her Adjusted gross income using a calculator online - I think there’s even one on the IRS website.</p>

<p>Once the taxes are filed, you’ll need to only use your mother’s income when entering it in FAFSA. Some tax programs will automatically calculate differences in taxes that would occur if a couple filed separately. It will give you one number for married filing jointly and another number for married filing separately, and will split out the income & taxes for each person. That’s useful to show the relative tax owed by each person, and will also be helpful for filing FAFSA. If your mother only has w-2 income, it should be pretty straightforward for her to file FAFSA. </p>

<p>Be careful about the assets; make sure she declares all that are hers, but none of your stepfather’s.</p>