Step-parent, divorce, and audit confusion.

This year my university has selected me for an audit that requires tax information from the year 2016. My father, who is my custodial parent, was separated from my step mother that tax year and have since divorced. In the chaos of their divorce, neither filed taxes on time for 2016. My father has since filed his taxes but she has not. My question is: since they were separated anyway, will his information suffice or will it be construed as some sort of fraudulent attempt to secure more aid by the FinAid office? This has got me quite confused and if her info is required I fear she will not be compliant.

On your financial aid application form, did you indicate you indicate separated on the FAFSA? Did you only list your custodial parent?

What exactly is the college asking for?

On the latest FAFSA I only included my custodial parent’s income. The college wanted Student and Parent to transcripts from 2016.

Thank you for taking time to help.

When you did your FAFSA, did you link your student tax form to the IRS data retrieval tool?

Your custodial parent will need to send a tax transcript…but if your custodial parent filed a joint return in 2016, you may need to provide documentation of your dad’s actual income from that year.

Don’t worry about it. Just give the school what they ask for. You aren’t the only person whose parents have divorced, and who are being asked for documentation to support what is on the FAFSA.