Financial Aid question about turning in 1040 for 2011

[Anonymous]

I'm sure many of you have already turned in your 2011's 1040 for your FA application. We just received our 2011 W-2 from my DH's employer, and are about to have our taxes done. We have moved, changed jobs over the last year, and we have to do a multi-state (3) tax returns which complicates the tax matter. If you don't turn in your 1040 for 2011 some time before the admission and FA decision is made, would the schools eliminate you from the list? I did turn in our 1040, W-2 for year 2010, but that was just so the school could see what kind of income you made the previous year. The school website says to turn in the 2011's 1040 ASAP in order to be considered (finalized) for the FA award. The decision letter should be sent out in less than 3 weeks. My DH doubts we will have our 1040 done by then. But I really do not want to lose the chance on FA so I will stay up all night until we finish our tax. I asked a local tax pro how long it will take for our taxes to be done, and he said not until next month..... So it may be faster if we do our own taxes, even if doing multi-state tax filing is challenging. My head started spinning...... Please share your advise.

[Anonymous]

You should do your federal taxes yourself NOW using Turbotax or another online service and immediately submit your completed 1040s and W2s. Schools take these deadlines very seriously.

Most people have complicated tax returns these days-- nanny taxes, self-employment income--and we all have ridiculous deadlines to meet. (Our own school's forms were due in mid-January!) State returns are irrelevant in the FA process, so you can do the multiple state returns later.

Later, if you really think it's necessary, you can pay an accountant to redo everything and file an amended return.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should do your federal taxes yourself NOW using Turbotax or another online service and immediately submit your completed 1040s and W2s. Schools take these deadlines very seriously.

Most people have complicated tax returns these days-- nanny taxes, self-employment income--and we all have ridiculous deadlines to meet. (Our own school's forms were due in mid-January!) State returns are irrelevant in the FA process, so you can do the multiple state returns later.

Later, if you really think it's necessary, you can pay an accountant to redo everything and file an amended return.

That's unrealistic, in many circumstances. I didn't get a final K-1 last year until mid-April, and that's months earlier than in previous years. It's not that the taxes are overly complicated, it's that many people don't have the information they need.

[Anonymous]

many schools except draft 1040s. But don't miss the deadline, they will give the money to someone else. There are more families that qualify than aid available at most schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should do your federal taxes yourself NOW using Turbotax or another online service and immediately submit your completed 1040s and W2s. Schools take these deadlines very seriously.

Most people have complicated tax returns these days-- nanny taxes, self-employment income--and we all have ridiculous deadlines to meet. (Our own school's forms were due in mid-January!) State returns are irrelevant in the FA process, so you can do the multiple state returns later.

Later, if you really think it's necessary, you can pay an accountant to redo everything and file an amended return.

That's unrealistic, in many circumstances. I didn't get a final K-1 last year until mid-April, and that's months earlier than in previous years. It's not that the taxes are overly complicated, it's that many people don't have the information they need.

I agree that it's unrealistic, but I don't set the rules and the deadlines. If you don't meet the school filing deadlines, you're in danger of not being considered at all.

[Anonymous]

I never have everything we need to complete our taxes on time, so we always file an estimate then later file an amendment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should do your federal taxes yourself NOW using Turbotax or another online service and immediately submit your completed 1040s and W2s. Schools take these deadlines very seriously.

Most people have complicated tax returns these days-- nanny taxes, self-employment income--and we all have ridiculous deadlines to meet. (Our own school's forms were due in mid-January!) State returns are irrelevant in the FA process, so you can do the multiple state returns later.

Later, if you really think it's necessary, you can pay an accountant to redo everything and file an amended return.

Maybe this has been pointed out already but if you an afford a nanny my guess is you won't qualify for FA.

[Anonymous]

Notify the school of your issue. They will wait. Last year we didn't have the information and turned in estimates and got creamed. In reality, we should have waited, because our numbers weren't accurate and errored on the side of us paying much more in taxes and ultimately tuition. Do your best with the estimate and as soon as you have the w2 give it to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure many of you have already turned in your 2011's 1040 for your FA application. We just received our 2011 W-2 from my DH's employer, and are about to have our taxes done. We have moved, changed jobs over the last year, and we have to do a multi-state (3) tax returns which complicates the tax matter. If you don't turn in your 1040 for 2011 some time before the admission and FA decision is made, would the schools eliminate you from the list? I did turn in our 1040, W-2 for year 2010, but that was just so the school could see what kind of income you made the previous year. The school website says to turn in the 2011's 1040 ASAP in order to be considered (finalized) for the FA award. The decision letter should be sent out in less than 3 weeks. My DH doubts we will have our 1040 done by then. But I really do not want to lose the chance on FA so I will stay up all night until we finish our tax. I asked a local tax pro how long it will take for our taxes to be done, and he said not until next month..... So it may be faster if we do our own taxes, even if doing multi-state tax filing is challenging. My head started spinning...... Please share your advise.

The deadline for getting your PFS done on line is Feb 15th, I believe for all schools. It may be Feb 5th for some. This is with all of your 1040's and W-2's uploaded onto the PFS site a couple days ahead of Feb 15th so that they can be processed by 15th. It is written in stone. No FA application, no FA. At this point applications are being reviewed, decisions being made and letters written to b posted on March 1st. Tens of thousands around the country apply for FA every year. There are no exceptions, special cases and, " buts..."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure many of you have already turned in your 2011's 1040 for your FA application. We just received our 2011 W-2 from my DH's employer, and are about to have our taxes done. We have moved, changed jobs over the last year, and we have to do a multi-state (3) tax returns which complicates the tax matter. If you don't turn in your 1040 for 2011 some time before the admission and FA decision is made, would the schools eliminate you from the list? I did turn in our 1040, W-2 for year 2010, but that was just so the school could see what kind of income you made the previous year. The school website says to turn in the 2011's 1040 ASAP in order to be considered (finalized) for the FA award. The decision letter should be sent out in less than 3 weeks. My DH doubts we will have our 1040 done by then. But I really do not want to lose the chance on FA so I will stay up all night until we finish our tax. I asked a local tax pro how long it will take for our taxes to be done, and he said not until next month..... So it may be faster if we do our own taxes, even if doing multi-state tax filing is challenging. My head started spinning...... Please share your advise.

The deadline for getting your PFS done on line is Feb 15th, I believe for all schools. It may be Feb 5th for some. This is with all of your 1040's and W-2's uploaded onto the PFS site a couple days ahead of Feb 15th so that they can be processed by 15th. It is written in stone. No FA application, no FA. At this point applications are being reviewed, decisions being made and letters written to b posted on March 1st. Tens of thousands around the country apply for FA every year. There are no exceptions, special cases and, " buts..."[/quote

Our school's deadline is 2/17 ... not much time beyond 2/15, but a little. I filled out our family's financial statement on SSS tonight, and it looks like there is a delay of up to 72 hours right now to process info.

Last year, I discovered a mistake in the 1040 after I had submitted it to the school (but I had not yet submitted it to the IRS). We already had our FA award at that point -- I called the school, and they said they would receive a copy of our filed 1040 anyway, so not to worry. (I think the mistake was within a $100 range -- so not big for FA purposes, but it meant the 1040 I had submitted through SSS was not accurate).

I would say do the best you can on the 1040 with the information you have -- if you have all of the w-2s and the info you need to fill out Schedule A, it shouldn't be that bad.

[Anonymous]

Speaking of uploading the W2s and 1040s, is anyone else noticing a pretty significant lag in the processing on PFS? We uploaded ours over a week ago and still nothing. It's making me antsy.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you all for your replies. I started doing our 1040 last night, and my head is still spinning since I have never done this on my own before. We either took it to the tax pro or my husband did it using the tax software previously. With the complications of multi-state, my husband is refusing to do it. He won't even take it to the tax pro. But what's more difficult is that I have no support from him as far as this private school (and FA) application goes. He is a typical (?) or average man who thinks the public schools are just fine; as long as you want to learn then you can learn anywhere regardless of school system. I, on the other hand, grew up with both public and private education, and I find private education to have its own benefits. I would really like to let my kids try private school and see how it benefits them. But without financial aid, we are not able to send them to private school. I also believe that the private schools are for the privileged, therefore I think we don't deserve to send out kids to private. With many people's generosity, it makes it possible for families to send their children like ours to attend private.

So the impression I get from here is that I'd better get our 2011's 1040 done and upload it on SSS, like right NOW!! I have already completed PFS, uploaded 2010's W-2 and 1040, 2011's W-2. The only document missing is the 2011 1040, which the school must receive by deadline (which I missed already....).

Yes, the SSS must be swamped with uploaded documents now that it is taking many days for my docs to show up on our account. I need to get the 1040 done and upload it!!!

[Anonymous]

Turns out I had no idea how to translate the last paystub of 2011 into a W-2, and overreported our income by several thousand dollars.

We already received our award letter, but are not sure if the amount was based on the estimates or the actual 1040. We did upload the actual tax information before the deadline. Should I contact the school?

[Anonymous]

OP - don't fret about the multi-state taxes. They are a PITA but manageable. We've had four years of taxes in which we were residents of one state half the year and then moved. We've done them on our own every time with some calls to the IRS and the individual state agencies. The people have actually been really really helpful when we've called.

You can do it! BTW our docs just showed up in the system (9 days after submission) so they really seem to be running behind. Of course the EFC is about 2000 too high for us to manage because we overestimated income on the PFS. I guess the schools will figure that out when they see our actual w2s and returns. This whole process makes me feel really bad for the financial aid directors at schools. I guess they have accounting backgrounds, but that seems like a pretty painful job this time of year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Turns out I had no idea how to translate the last paystub of 2011 into a W-2, and overreported our income by several thousand dollars.

We already received our award letter, but are not sure if the amount was based on the estimates or the actual 1040. We did upload the actual tax information before the deadline. Should I contact the school?

It's very hard to translate the last paystub to W2 amounts. No, a few thousand $ less income would not make much of a difference.