I was selected for financial aid verification and they requested a Student 2016 w-2 form from me but i was never required to file one so I don’t have a W-2 at all. It says you can submit a statement listing amount of income if don’t have a w-2 form but what kind of statement do they want me to submit? What should it look like?
You don’t “file” a W-2; it’s a form you get from an employer that details your earnings, pay deductions and tax withholdings for the year. In lieu of a W-2 form, I would think that an income statement at a minimum would list the amount received, the date received, who paid the income, and any deductions or tax withholdings.
@BelknapPoint my income is from tutoring kids and getting money from their mothers… how can I put this in the statement?
Just do a chronological statement for the tax year.
DATE - AMOUNT RECEIVED - PAYMENT FOR - DEDUCTIONS (if any)
@BelknapPoint would an irs verification of non filing letter be an acceptable subsitute or is it not related to w-2?
If an IRS non-filing letter is part of the financial aid verification request, than provide an IRS non-filing letter. But your original question was what should an income statement look like (requested because you don’t have a W-2). Give them what they’re asking for.
This shouldn’t be a difficult thing to do. Don’t overthink it.
How much did you earn?
The non filing verification letter from the IRS will prove that you didn’t file a 2016 tax return.
@mommdc not much just $1100 for the entire year. I didnt get a w-2 since my employers were just local moms who wanted extra help for their kids
Since you made more than $433 in self-employment income in 2016, you owed self-employment tax and should have filed a tax return.
Edited to add: assuming you had no deductible expenses and $1,100 was your net profit, you owed $155 in self-employment taxes. There is no income tax owed.
@BelknapPoint does this count as self employment?
It sure sounds like it. If you were tutoring and had not been hired by a company to work for them and do this, you had clients, not employers. If you were hired by a company to do this work for them, you should have received a W-2 and at the very least had a deduction for FICA, which is the same thing that the self-employment tax covers.
Make an account at TurboTax Freedom Edition. See if you can still file a 2016 return.
Called financial aid office and they said all I need to do is submit a statement that says how much I earned from tutoring. Basically just a word docx with a few sentences. (This is for anyone else who might also go through this problem in the future)
Did you tell UCLA finaid the amount of your tutoring income?
@thumper1 Yes
@yerinable I’m going through the same process for UCSD. I tutored a few kids and didn’t realize I had to file taxes. Did they verify you so you passed the screening process yet? Did they ask for additional docs from you besides the word doc? And was your financial aid the same amount after this? Thanks in advance!
@brianna910 Yep, I passed the verification process and all they wanted from me was the word doc explaining why I didn’t have a W-2. They didn’t request anything else after that. You should mention in your doc about getting paid in cash. And the financial aid was the same amount! Hope this helps!
It’s nice that UCLA didn’t want anything else…but just because you are paid in cash doesn’t mean you aren’t supposed to file IRS taxes if you are self employed and earn more than a certain amount.
But that’s another whole thread…right @BelknapPoint ?
I honestly doubt anyone expects a minor to file taxes for earning some money from helping out people in their neighborhood. No one makes a 13 year old who babysits file taxes. (That’s basically what the financial aid office at UCLA told me). They only asked for the W-2 so that it can match my information on the fafsa.
There is no age that’s too young to be required to file a tax return and pay taxes, if the legal requirements to do so have been satisfied. For a 13 year old who receives cash payments for babysitting, the threshold is about $433 each year. You can rationalize it however you want, but there most definitely are people who expect a minor to file a tax return and pay taxes when the law says they must.
P.S. Only a fool takes tax advice from a college financial aid office.