I submitted my CSS Profile and stated that I (the student) had an income of $200 from tutoring students at my high school. And now on the IDOC, it wants my federal tax returns, except $200 isn’t enough money to be taxed. So I have to either say that I earned absolutely no money or I have to provide a statement from the employer (students and their parents). My question is, what am I supposed to do? My counselor suggested that I write the statement from the employer and have the parents of the students I tutor sign it, except she didn’t tell me how I go about writing the statement.
I don’t understand why you would need a statement from your clients (they are not your employers). What would the statement say? That you didn’t earn enough money to be required to file a tax return? That information can only come from you, not any of your clients. If you reported on Profile that you only earned $200 in 2015, it should be self evident that you are not required to file a tax return.
Who is telling you that you need to get a statement from your clients (employers)?
Doesn’t the iDOC have an online Student Non-Tax Filer’s Form that you can complete? Do the parents/students pay you directly or do you have some kind of wage statement from your school? If documentation is required, since it’s such a small amount of money, a simple list of your clients with dates and amounts paid might be sufficient. You can also contact the FinAid Dept. and ask them.
from https://www.cmu.edu/finaid/faq/css.html (as an example):
"If the student or parent is a non-tax filer, what do they submit?
Students or parents who are non-tax filers, as indicated on their CSS PROFILE, will be instructed to file a CSS Non-Tax Filer Statement on their IDOC Cover Sheet. They will submit the form to IDOC and CMU will receive the form.
On the Non-Tax Filer Statement, it states that supporting documentation for all income sources should be included. Examples of documentation include: Pay stubs; annual Social Security statements; other annual benefit statements such as for housing or living allowances, workers’ compensation or disability; and copies of cancelled checks such as for child support."
My guidance counselor, because on IDOC, when I click the button that says I’m not going to file a tax return, it says that I have to submit something in lieu of a tax return to document my income, or I have to claim that I had no income in 2015 (I’m assuming I can’t say I earned $200 on the CSS and then report zero income in IDOC even though it’s just $200).
Write up some invoices that document your tutoring charges. Hopefully you’ve kept records, although I can’t imagine there’s much there with $200 in income.
@alooknac Is the Student Non-tax filer statement supposed to be under the Document Management Dashboard? It doesn’t appear as a form I can fill out. And yes, the students pay me directly.
@BelknapPoint Thanks! Would I have to have the students or parents sign the document?
In my opinion: no.