Agree with other posters. Do it now, and you can provide updated documents if they ask for them.

Do it now so you have time for questions, materials gathering, etc. They'll ask you for more info later when all tax documents are typically. available.

You likely wouldn’t have final info before the deadlines even if you wait until January. The FA application asks for 2023 tax info and 2024 expenses, which you should have or be able to estimate pretty closely by now. Some questions just specify “last 12 months” so it’s the prior 12 months regardless of when you are filling it out (as a returning family, we had to fill out the application by Nov 1 for example). Just do it now. If you haven’t done it before it can take some time to get everything together.

When should we apply? Everyone says early but we don't have all our financial info for 2024 yet. Does early just mean early in January? or just do rough estimates?