<p>We will be able to complete our taxes in January (assuming all forms are received), however we will not be able to pay our taxes and therefore will hold off filing until April 15th. As long as we put "will update" (or whatever the terminology is) on the FAFSA, are we going to be ok or should we try to file earlier although the numbers will remain the same?</p>
<p>The term is “will file” which means you will file your taxes but have NOT yet done so. UNTIL you file your taxes AND update the FAFSA to reflect this…with the numbers from your return, any financial aid you receive will be an estimate. In addition, if you are selected for verification, your award will not be finalized by the school until you complete all of your documentation.</p>
<p>To be honest, even though your numbers are NOT going to change…I would try to file early this year. The year your child is going to be a college freshman is NOT the year to wait until April 15.</p>
<p>You don’t have to pay your taxes when you file them. You can file in January (assuming you have all your forms), and pay your taxes any time by April 15th.</p>
<p>Ah but we owe back taxes as well and IRS gets a little insistent about the upcoming taxes due. We filed a little early last year and got a nasty note from them on April 16th that had late fees and penalties, etc tacked on, though we actually did end up paying on April 15th.</p>
<p>What harm is there (in regards to FAFSA/CSS) in waiting to physically file the 1040 with IRS? Is it just the verification issue? The “estimate” won’t change if the numbers don’t change, will it?</p>
<p>It all depends. I think the actual disbursement of funds can be held up until all verification materials are in place (someone will tell me if I’m wrong). While this is usually a quick process, there have been reports of this dragging into the start of the term when payment is due.</p>
<p>I do think you should FILE as soon as you can. Re: payment…you can’t get any federally funded aid until you are up to date on payments with the IRS, I believe.</p>
<p>Oh, having back taxes would probably make a difference.</p>
<p>It is possible to get less aid because of being verified. Happened to my daughter this year. We filed FAFSA very early - sometime in January. She was selected for verification and by the time we knew she had been selected and submitted the paperwork (1-2 weeks maybe), they had run out of WS and SEOG funds. She went in to ask why she had not got WS as she was really hoping for it and had a job lined up. At first glance they could not understand why she had not with a 0 EFC. Then they looked closer and said it was purely because of the short delay because of verification. This is a State U that does not offer any need based funds of their own, so missing out on that $6000 in aid was painful and meant her total loans will be a little higher than we had hoped. And she was disappointed not to be able to do the WS job as it was related to her minor.</p>
<p>@thumper - we are making payments on the past taxes and are more or less up to date (on the payments). Paying 2011 taxes is going to be difficult to put it mildly, but because we are already making payments on past taxes, we “have to” pay the 2011 taxes in full and cannot add them to the payment plan. We are expecting very little federal funds (if any).</p>
<p>@swimcat - not filing taxes until April 15th isn’t more cause for us to get verified is it? Definitely a bummer though to miss out of those extra funds!</p>
<p>Thanks to you both… food I’m not liking for thought though :).</p>