<p>I'm 18 and made about 10k last year. Will filing for a return cause me to get less aid?</p>
<p>You don’t have ANY choice. Your earnings are such that you are required to file a tax return. </p>
<p>Where IS that $10,000? If you have it, it will add $2000 to your family contribution if it is a student asset.</p>
<p>You have to file a tax return as you have made over the thresh hold to not file. If you don’t file when legally required, you won’t be eligible for any aid.</p>
<p>Yes, it could. But it appears that you do HAVE to file a return. You made over the threshhold so that is what the rules say. You also are required to report it on the financial aid forms and they will cross check it with the tax return you have to file, and it can mess things up if you don’t do as you are required.</p>
<p>I believe about half your earnings over $6K, which means about $2K will go directly towards EFC. But that’s after taxes paid and other deduction may have happened, so really you have to run the numbers to find out for sure. ANother 20% of whatever you have sitting as assets will be assessed directly towards, EFC, so it might behoove you to pay it down if you have bills, or open a joint account with a parent with his/her name and SSN first and repay them for expenses by depositing the money there. Parents get a protection allowance and are only hit up 5.6% of their assets. Assets reported are at the value on the day you fill out the form, not 12/31, so you have some wiggle room. </p>
<p>Also my dad claimed me as a dependent, if that matters</p>
<p>That doesn’t matter as to whether you need to file a return or not, you do. As a dependent on someone else’s return, you will not be taxed on the first $6100 of your income. The amount above that will likely be taxed at 10%.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Your post is incomplete. What exactly are you asking?</p>
<p>It sounds like you’re asking us to give you an excuse to cheat on your taxes.</p>
<p>I agree that the OP’s question is incomplete. It isn’t filing for a return that will necessarily cause a person to get less aid. It’s the income that a person makes. The simple act of filing a tax return by itself is not going to make a difference. Lots of people file tax returns and still get aid, full aid too. </p>
<p>The rules are that a dependent student can make up to about $6200 (?) before the FAFSA formula assesses income towards EFC. Then it’s about 1/2 income over that. But whether someone files a tax return is irrelevant in that the income has to be declared on FAFSA as student income or it constitutes fraud. A student also has to file a tax return under certain scenarios, and again one is breaking IRS rules not doing so. </p>
<p>From what the student reports, at his income level, yes, what he earned last year will likely affect his financial aid in that it will likely raise his EFC. Without some deductions, some of the income will be hit towards EFC. Also,these days, as mentioned, the IRS retrieval is often used by FAFSA schools to check up on the numbers reported. </p>
<p>The student has NO CHOICE. A $10,000 income would require the filing of a federal, and likely state, income tax return. There is NO CHOICE. Some of that income will be used in the FAFSA formula for computing need based aid…about $4000 of it. In addition, any money the student has will be assessed at 20% towards the family contribution.</p>