Student Financial Information / eBay and Amazon Sales

Paying for College
1

<p>I am currently filling out the student portion of the financial information section of my FAFSA application. I have not and was not required to file taxes for the previous year.</p>

<p>I sold two items on Amazon and eBay for a total of about $190 last year and my expenses for those items totaled $105. Would I have to report my income after deducting the expenses, or would I have to report the full $190? And which question would I have to input income information concerning these sources of income?</p>

2

<p>I’m assuming they’re your hobby activities. What is the cost of goods? If it’s $105, then your gross income is $190 - $105 = $85 and you report the gross income on Form 1040 Line 21.</p>

<p>Disclaimer: Always consult a tax expert on tax matters.</p>

3

<p>I am not required to file a tax return because I did not exceed the $400 self-employment income requirement to file taxes. However, I still need to report my income on my FAFSA application, but I’m not sure which question I should put it under.</p>

4

<p>If you answered Q32: “I’m not going to file;” then you don’t report your other income (hobby income) anywhere on your FAFSA.
You don’t put it on Q39 because it’s not your earned income.</p>

5

<p>Hmmm. Does this mean when my daughter sold her textbooks back to amazon, she should have reported that as income? Does it mean when my husband sold his bicycle on eBay, he should have reported it as income?</p>

<p>Really?</p>

6

<p>^They probably sold the items at a loss, and you don’t report negative hobby incomes on the tax returns.</p>

7

<p>*The 2014-2015 FAFSA provides a student income allowance of $6,260. See page 10, line 39 of FAFSA EFC Formula Guide. - See more at: * <a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091913EFCFormulaGuide1415.pdf”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091913EFCFormulaGuide1415.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>My opinion: small potatoes. No impact. I wouldn’t bother. I don’t think I included the few dollars D2 earned as a sub lifeguard. Maybe thumper and I can end up at the same facility.</p>

<p>The instructions can be crappy. </p>

8

<p>What about graduation presents? I hadn’t thought about this before, but DD just received a graduation gift from a grandparent…does this check (and any others to follow) get reported as income?</p>

9

<p>Gifts are NOT income.</p>

10

<p>But if that gift check goes into a bank account, and that money is in the bank account when the fafsa is filed, it becomes an asset.</p>

11

<p>Yes…money in the bank accounts, regardless of the source (unless they are need based aid monies) are counted as assets.</p>