Am helping daughter to fill out her FAFSA and ran across the question “did receive federal financial aid for 2011 for which you’ve filed a tax return?”
Er…good question.
First, NONE of us has filed a tax return yet. Tony and I don’t even HAVE all our tax information yet. We’re filling out the FAFSA now because we got a frantic call from the school saying ‘do it now, because it’s first-come, first-served. Yes, we know you haven’t actually done your taxes yet. Estimate.’
Second, Anna has never filed a tax return because she’s never worked. She did get a couple of very small student loans last year, which went directly to the school…does that mean she needs to file a 2011 return?
Don’t take me as an expert on the subject by any means. However, seeing as how I’m going through all that FAFSA stuff myself I figure I can at least tell you what I did/am doing. Whether or not it complies with all the appropriate laws is another matter.
As far as I can tell, there’s no necessity to file for a tax return on student loans. I haven’t filed any for mine. I don’t make enough money that I have to file taxes regularly. If I did, then I would likely add anything I could to get money back. I think that’s what it means. If you file your taxes anyway and included student aid in with all that. So all that to say, I think the correct answer is “no”. Hopefully someone else who knows a bit more about such things will come along to enlighten both of us. If not I hope my response helps at least a bit.
Sorry, Red, it’s no help. Moira Stewart used to read the news on the BBC here in the UK. Now she appears in advertisements from the Inland Revenue, warning that self-assessment forms are due. I’m happy to be below the threshold now, although I filled in a form for years after failing to declare some income from Cartooning. My wife is getting her self-assessment form in. Any day now.
It’s enough to drive one crazy, I have to say. The day after I posted this, we received a form in her name indicating the amount of applicable tuition paid (which is deductible). It’s in her name, but she’s our dependent, so I’m assuming we put that on OUR tax return.
I’m about ready to just go off and raise mushrooms somewhere…
My wife is getting her self-assessment form in. Any day now. 