<p>Hi,
I am a US citizen and should be eligible for FAFSA, but I have no idea how to fill it without US tax reports. Neither I nor my parents live / work in the USA so it is really hard to understand all the US tax system-specific questions. Is there anyone who was in a similar situation and could offer me some help?</p>
<p>If they make enough income to be required to file a tax return, US citizens and green card holders are required to submit US tax returns even if they do not live in the US. So if your parents have income over the filing requirement, they will have to do US tax returns before you will be considered for any aid. (this does not necessarily mean they will owe taxes as there is a fairly generous foreign earned income tax exclusion for people who spend less than a specified amount of time in the US each year).</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/U.S.-Citizens-and-Resident-Aliens-Abroad[/url]”>http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/U.S.-Citizens-and-Resident-Aliens-Abroad</a></p>
<p>If they are very low income and not required to file, then it should be fairly easy to complete FAFSA with their income information</p>
<p>I didn’t know that!! However, only my mum, who has no income, is a US citizen. My dad isn’t, so should we still file a tax return???
What do you mean by a very low income?</p>
<p>If your parents were living in the US, they would file a joint return as a married couple even though your father is the one with income from work. Ask them to print out the forms, and try completing them. Everything is at [Internal</a> Revenue Service](<a href=“http://www.irs.gov%5DInternal”>http://www.irs.gov)</p>
<p>Since your father is not a citizen or legal permanent resident, special rules apply as to his tax status. Your parents can email the IRS and find out how their situation should be handled given that they are living outside the US. Yes, the IRS staff does reply to questions like that all the time. I have found them to be very helpful over the years.</p>
<p>If it is determined that your family income situation means that your parents do not need to file US tax returns, then you will use the equivalent information for their world-wide income and assets converted to USD on the FAFSA. If your dad doesn’t have a social security number, you will use 000-00-0000 for his number. Both you and your mom may be required to file a non tax filer form.</p>
<p>The FAFSA currently requires US citizens living outside of the US to answer the question, “What is your state of legal residence?” by selecting a US state or (for some reason) a Canadian province. Since the Department of Education is now accepting comments on how to improve the FAFSA process, please send an email asking that the FAFSA stop requiring US citizens who legally reside outside of the US or Canada to select a state of legal residence. Deadline to submit a request is 10/27/2014. Email address: <a href="mailto:ICDocketMgr@ed.gov">ICDocketMgr@ed.gov</a>. Be sure to include this docket #: ED-2014-ICCD-0125.</p>