I’m a single mom with an EFC of 0. I have some savings in a mutual fund and also in a Roth IRA. I am needing about $5000 in cash for an emergency expense. Would one of these accounts be better to tap into than the other as far as the FAFSA is concerned?
I read somewhere on this site that withdrawing contributions from a Roth affects the FAFSA. Could someone explain why?
Thank you!
To obtain $5k through selling mutual fund shares, how much is the projected gain or loss?
One college viewed my Roth IRA withdrawal as income and the other did not. Hard lesson to learn. Now I use a home equity line of credit to pay college bills. Will payoff the line of credit with Roth withdrawal after we are done with college. Ask your college what puts you in best.
One college viewed my Roth IRA withdrawal as income and the other did not. Hard lesson to learn. Now I use a home equity line of credit to pay college bills. Will payoff the line of credit with Roth withdrawal after we are done with college. Ask your college what puts you in best light.
Based only on the information you have provided so far, I would recommend removing the needed emergency funds from the mutual fund.
But as Madison85 notes, you don’t mention what your capital gains/losses might be nor whether your 2016 adjusted gross income will fall below the 2016 income thresholds ($37,650 single filer/$75,300 married filing jointly) below which your capital gains are not taxable. Also, you don’t mention how much you have in retirement savings and whether that amount puts you on track for a secure retirement (an involved process/estimate not possible to determine easily – and certainly not via the CC site).
But, yes, Question 94e of the 2016-2017 FAFSA asks for the dollar amount of any Roth IRA withdrawal as follows: “Parents’ untaxed Portions of IRA Distributions.” Assuming you do not remove any of the GROWTH portion of your Roth IRA but the $5,000 represents only part or all of the contribution portion of your Roth IRA, the withdrawal will be tax-free and penalty-free. But you will list that dollar withdrawal on the FAFSA line 94e. If it (or any portion) were to be taxable, it would have been shown on your tax return and thus also on the FAFSA anyway as income.
Remember that, starting this year, the 2017-18 FAFSA is using the prior-prior year, thus you will use info from the 2015 tax/calendar year – not what you your earn/transact during calendar year 2016.
I’m hoping you save your Roth IRA balances for your retirement. You will need the money for the period when you no longer have earned income. Besides, let that ROTH grow tax-free and come out tax-free years from now. That’s why you invested that way in the first place. Correct?
Oh, thank you so much…all of you! I found out a couple of additional pieces of info like you asked for.
I can’t easily figure out the cost basis to project the capital gains because of how long the mutual fund has been in place. However, I am significantly under the $37,650 ceiling. Would this most certainly mean I should obtain the money from the mutual fund? Is there no line on the FAFSA that asks if a parent sold mutual funds? (Like 94e regarding retirement fund withdrawals)
I did not know about the prior-prior year law for the FAFSA. Thank you for that and for your concern about my retirement. I really do not want to tap into that Roth either.
Do you own a home? If so, consider using a home equity line of credit as suggested above.
What year in school? Who is the student - you or your child?
If you end up having no documentation of your cost basis in the mutual fund, the IRS considers your basis to be zero and that’s what you report on your taxes. But if your AGI is below that $37,650 threshold, you will not have any capital gains taxes to pay on it anyway. So no real harm by not knowing/declaring a cost basis – you luck out.
This issue of cost-basis is why everyone with investments should keep good records/documentation/tax returns of their initial investment costs, dividends that are annually taxed over the years and stock splits. The mutual fund company might be able to help you a bit, although current law required brokers/mutual funds to report cost-basis info for sales of stocks bought only during/after 2011 and for mutual funds bought 2012 and after.
I say sell the mutual fund shares. The 2018-19 FAFSA will not ask separately about that sale because those dollars will already be reflected in your 2016 tax return – which the FAFSA form uses heavily for its calculations.
Despite Madison85’s helpful suggestion, a HELOC is not a aid to you in this case – You are paying for an emergency expense that is happening NOW. Besides, borrowing from one’s home equity puts an owner at risk for losing the home if circumstances make it difficult for them to pay back that debt.
Do you qualify for the simplified needs test? If so, then filing an 1040 to report the gains/loses on your mutual fund transactions could have an effect if that was one of the qualifiers you use to be eligible for the simplified needs test.
I do not know all the rules. Can someone answer this: if you sell a stock/mutual fund are you require to file an 1040 to report the income/lose?
My oldest son will have one more year of college (2017/18), and I understand now that the FAFSA for that year will be based off of 2015’s tax form again. Actions this year will be reflected on a FAFSA for my second son who will be starting college (ideally) 2018/19. I do own a home but don’t want a HELOC if I can help it for reasons Minnesotadad discussed. (But for the record, if Madison is for UW, we are fellow alums!)
Yes, I do fill out a simplified/short version of the FAFSA because I am able to mark the dislocated worker box. The only financial info I need to provide are the tax questions from the from a few of the lines on the front page. So when Minnesotadad says, “those dollars will already be reflected in your 2016 tax return” does that mean the $5000 (value of shares I would sell) is counted as income to me and reported on one of those lines on the the front page of the 1040?
Have I mentioned how grateful I am for your help with this?? Thank you!
Yes, you will report the sale and the resulting capital gains on those mutual fund sales on your 2016 tax form, assuming you do sell them this year. That sale will count as reportable income.
You likely could use the Form 1040A, which has a place to report capital gains. But if you are eligible for the health coverage tax credit or if you pay self-employment tax, you will be required to file Form 1040.
Line 10 of the 2015 1040A is for capital gain distributions. I believe that in order to report a capital gain (or loss) based on the sale of an asset, a 1040 must be filed.