<p>I'm entering college in fall of 2013. Do I apply for fafsa now? or wait until january for the new form? The current one asks for 2011 taxes (which is my parents' most recent), but I think the january form asks for the more updated 2012 form.</p>
<p>Someone told me I have to finish Fafsa by Jan. 1 but I don't know if they're wrong and I have to wait until January for the new forms to com out</p>
<p>Help!!</p>
<p>You fill out FAFSA after January 1, using your income and taxes for 2012. The sooner you fill it out the better at some schools, because some dole out financial aid on a first come, first served basis.</p>
<p>If your parents do not have their w-2’s right away, and their income for 2012 is close to their 2011 income, you can submit an estimated FAFSA (indicating “will file” for tax filing status) and then amend the FAFSA once all the w-2’s and interest statements (if any) are available.</p>
<p>Check the college(s) to which you’ve applied, and each will give you their filing deadline. Some may be mid-January, and you don’t want to miss them.</p>
<p>Thank you. My parents don’t get w-2’s, though. They’re self-employed and only have an IRS 1040 form. I don’t know if that replaces the w-2 form. Also, they said that it’ll take some time to file their 2012 taxes in time for mid-january. Is there a disadvantage in amending my FAFSA form?</p>
<p>You can file your FAFSA with estimated information early on, and click “will file” where it asks whether the taxes have been filed yet. Then when everyone’s taxes are complete, you will amend the tax information and click the box indicating that the taxes have been filed.</p>
<p>Many places will not give you a financial aid award until your taxes and the FAFSA have been finalized. Print out the 2013-2014 formula, and ask your parents to work through it on paper. That way they will know everything that they will have to have on hand to file the FAFSA. <a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091312EFCFormulaGuide1314.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091312EFCFormulaGuide1314.pdf</a></p>
<p>I’ll reiterate, ask your parents to get their taxes done as soon as humanly possible this year, and if they can’t do it very early, ask them to do a best-guess estimate. </p>
<p>Note that even if you end up updating your income, the asset information is still as of the day you first filed. Those numbers should be exact and not estimated when you first file. When your parents are able to file their taxes, they will update only the income/tax related portions of the FAFSA. </p>
<p>Some people (and I among them) advise that you underestimate income by a small amount when doing the estimated FAFSA if you have to do an estimate. If the school allocates you too much financial aid, they’ll reduce the award when they get your final numbers. However, if they don’t allocate you enough, they may not have enough money left to increase your award when they get your final numbers. You don’t want to underestimate by a lot, though, because you’ll want a good estimate of what your aid will really be for planning purposes.</p>
<p>I fill out fafsa for myself and my son every year, and what I do is I use my last’s years income (form 1040) to estimate this year’s income. Then, after I do my taxes I do a “correction” to both, my fafsa and my son’s fafsa. My job is the same (I am a teacher) so my income is pretty much the same every year.
One advise, tell your parents to help you fill out the financial portion related to them. It can be quite confusing, and it is better to do it right the first time.</p>
<p>For Fall 2013 I would wait to file for 2012 instead of 2011.</p>
<p>If they are self-employed, filing early could be difficult. It is for me, and I am self-employed. I always do as some have suggested–file using the 2011 returns as an ‘estimate’ saying ‘will file’–then, once I actually DO file, I update. Better to get it in the system than wait for the returns to be finished, in my opinion.</p>
<p>And I mean, file on/after Jan1, 2013 using 2011 returns as your estimate.</p>