- I made less than $4,000
- Depended, upcoming sophomore in college
- I did the fafsa last year
- Received a generous grand & scholarships
- My parents filed their taxes for 2015, they said they(I) received 200 dollars from the money I made over the summer
- I was confused when they told me that. Does that mean they already did my tax return for me? I'm currently out of state for college and they're in FL so I think they received my W2.
So,
Is it necessary for me to file a tax return if I'm a dependent student who had a part-time summer job? I am doing my Fafsa and I am a bit confused.
You need to find out what your parents filed. If they filed a tax return for you, you need to know the numbers from it.
My D had a part time job last year and she also had some scholarships and grants.
The question is how much in scholarships and grants? If you got a 1098T form from the college it will have qualified tuition and fees billed in box 2 and scholarships and grants in box 5. If box 5 is more than box 2 that means you got more scholarships than your qualified expenses (books can be added to number in box 2). That excess would be taxable income and would have to be reported along with your work earnings on the tax return.
(Also on the FAFSA, but in question 44d you can then exclude the taxable scholarships).
If the qualified expenses from box 2 plus books was more than scholarships, then your parents might be able to claim an American Opportunity tax credit on their return (since you are their dependent).
Your parents might not know anything about these things. They might have filed a tax return with your work earnings only and got back the federal tax that was withheld from your paycheck, but you all have to look into the scholarship issue as well and see if a tax credit is possible or taxable scholarships need to be reported on tax return, maybe even both.
Also you will need your parents’ tax information (or they can link their return info to the FAFSA with the IRS data retrieval tool and their FSA ID). The balance of their bank accounts and investment accounts and yours on the day FAFSA is submitted. When you are sure your tax return is correct you can also link it to your FAFSA.
I know this is a lot to take in.
The way it worked out for us was that my D got a tuition scholarship and some outside scholarships. My D reported the outside scholarships on her tax return with her work earnings (since these scholarships paid for room and board thus being taxable), we on the other hand got a tax credit for books and fees we paid.
Feel free to ask more questions.
Also your parents need to include you in filing your tax return. I know you are away at school but you need to know what is being reported on your tax return since you need to sign it, even if it’s done electronically. You are responsible for what’s on there.
Seems like you are doing your FAFSA yourself, but make sure you get the correct information you need from your parents.
And even if you are under the income threshold that would require you to file a tax return, you should because you get back the taxes that were overwithheld and it’s easier to link a tax return to FAFSA than filling out a non filer’s statement.
What does this mean?
If you had taxes taken out of your pay for the summer…YOU would need to file your own tax return to get a refund.
Your parents do NOT include your income on their taxes.
It sounds like the parents filed a return for OP, probably electronically which does not require a “real” signatue, and OP received a $200 refund of withholding.
Thank you so much for answering my questions. I really appreciate all of your help. I am so lost filing for FAFSA this year. I am all alone in all of these and my parents are not able to help me file. I am still a little confused and I have no idea where to start. Is there any way I could contact you?I would very much need your help. Thanks again.
You can PM me. I am not a professional but I can try and help.
Also @kelsmom is well versed with financial aid matters. You can ask her specific questions.
This is true, but if the amount in box 5 is more than box 2, it is likely your school did not send a 1098T. They aren’t required to. I didn’t get one for my daughter this year but was able to look it up on her portal and get the numbers. There was a statement on there that she was not sent a copy and the information was not reported to the IRS because box 5 was more than box 2. In her case, it was because the school billed for spring 2015 tuition in Dec 2014 but it wasn’t due until late February so I didn’t claim it in 2014 taxes. She didn’t go to school this semester, so there was no similar charge in Dec 2015.
Why the schools can’t line up the charges is beyond me. Bill in the year the charges are for.
Yes and next year you need to have a 1098T to claim AOTC so hopefully the schools will honor a request to furnish a 1098T even if not required to.
I must say I am happy with how my D’s school handles the 1098T reporting. Both semesters of aid and charges are listed on it. They issued it even though her scholarships exceeded tuition and fees billed.