I'm a new college student that is broke and is applying for fasfa this year but they need my 2015 tax returns that i filled with turbotax. but you guys arent letting me?

mrmaldeney — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 20:45:17 GMT

i need to get them very very soon

Is access to the 2015 return locked because it was prepar...

mesquitebean — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 20:45:19 GMT

Is access to the 2015 return locked because it was prepared in Free Edition?   If you can't get the free 2015 return transcript by downloading it at the IRS link above, or don't want to wait 5-10 days for it to come by postal mail, we can tell you the steps to upgrade to PLUS and pay the 29.99 by credit/debit card to unlock the 2015 return.

NOTE:  If you already did upgrade to PLUS, then whatever you do, do NOT upgrade any further, or you'll have problems.  We can tell you how to pay for it.

How to upgrade and pay depends on what you have done for your current 2016 return.    Have you already filed your 2016 return with Online TurboTax, or is it still in preparation?  Was the 2016 return in Free Edition?   Or was it prepared outside of TurboTax?

And is the locked 2015 return in the SAME account as the one you used/are using for the 2016 return?

And ALWAYS, ALWAYS,ALWAYS make a hard copy of your tax re...

re2boys — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 20:45:21 GMT

And ALWAYS, ALWAYS,ALWAYS make a hard copy of your tax returns and file it with other permanent papers (such as SS card, birth certificates, etc). Now you know why!

Be aware of the below too. At tax time, you won't get any...

Carl — Mon, 03 Jun 2019 20:45:23 GMT

Be aware of the below too. At tax time, you won't get anywhere near the tax credits your parents will. ALso, if you take any student loans, make SURE that you are NOT the primary borrower. Let your parents fill that role, but it's important that you sign as the co-signer or secondary borrower.

College Education Expenses

Colleges work in academic years, while the IRS works in calendar years. So the reality is, it takes you 5 calendar years to get that 4 year degree. With that said:

- Scholarships and grants are claimed/reported as taxable income (initially) in the year they are received. It does not matter what year that scholarship or grant is *for*

- Tuition and other qualified education expenses are reported/claimed in the tax year they are paid. It does not matter what year they pay *for*.

Understand that figuring out who claims the student as a dependent, and determining who claims the education expenses & credits, is two different determinations. It depends on the specific situation as outlined below. After you read it, I have also attached a chart at the bottom. You can click on the chart to enlarge it so you can read it. If it’s still to hard to read on your screen then right-click on the enlarged image and elect to save it to your computer. Then you can double-click the saved image file on your computer to open it, and it will be even easier to read.

Here’s the general rules gisted from IRS Publication 970 at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf Some words are in bold, italicized, or capitalized just for emphasis. This is because correct interpretation by the reader is everything. Take the below contents LITERALLY, and do not try to “read between the lines”. If you do, you’ll interpret it incorrectly and risk reporting things wrong on your taxes. For example, there is a vast difference between “can be claimed” and “must be claimed”. The first one indicates a choice. The second one provides no choice.

If the student:

Is under the age of 24 on Dec 31 of the tax year and:

Is enrolled in an undergraduate program at an accredited institution and:

Is enrolled as a full time student for one academic semester that begins during the tax year, (each institution has their own definition of a half time student) and:

the STUDENT did NOT provide more that 50% of the STUDENT’S support (schollarships/grants received by the student ***do not count*** as the student providing their own support)

Then:

The parents will claim the student as a dependent on the parent's tax return and:

The parents will claim all schollarships, grants, tuition payments, and the student's 1098-T on the parent's tax return and:

The parents will claim all educational tax credits that qualify.

If the student will be filing a tax return and:

The parents qualify to claim the student as a dependent, then:

The student must select the option for "I can be claimed on someone else's return", on the student's tax return. The student must select this option ieven f the parent's qualify to claim the student as a dependent, and the parents do not claim them.

Now here’s some additional information that may or may not affect who files the 1098-T. If the amount of scholarships/grants exceeds the amount of qualified education expenses, the parent will know this when reporting the education on their tax return, because the parent will not qualify for any of the tax credits. (They only qualify for tax credits based on out-of-pocket qualified expenses not covered by scholarships/grants.) Also, the parent’s will not qualify for the credits depending on their MAGI which is different for each credit, and depends on the marital status of the parent or parents.

In the case where scholarships/grants covers “all” qualified education expenses, the parent’s don’t need to report educational information on their dependent student at all – but they still claim the student as a dependent if they “qualify” to claim the student.

If the scholarships/grants exceed the qualified education expenses, then the student will report the 1098-T and all other educational expenses and scholarships/grants on the student’s tax return. The student will pay taxes on the amount of scholarships/grants that are not used for qualified education expenses. However, if the student’s earned income reported on a W-2, when added to the excess scholarships/grants does NOT exceed $6200, then the student doesn’t even need to file a tax return, and nothing has to be reported.

If the student has any other taxable income not reported on a W-2, and it exceeds $400, (not including taxable portion of scholarships/grants) then most likely it’s considered self-employment income. That will require a tax return to be filed and the student will have to pay the Self-Employment tax on that income.

Finally, regardless of the student’s W-2 earnings, if any taxes were withheld on those earnings and it was less than $6200, then the student should file a tax return so as to get those withheld taxes refunded.

1099-Q Funds

First, scholarships & grants are applied to qualified education expenses. The only qualified expenses for scholarships and grants are tuition, books, and lab fees. that's it. If there is any excess, then it's taxable income. It automatically gets transferred as follows depending on what type of 1040 you’re riling.

1040-EZ excess scholarship income is included on line 1.
1040-A excess scholarship is included on line 7.
1040 Excess scholarhip is included on line 7.

Next, 529/Coverdell funds reported on 1099-Q are applied to qualified education expenses. The qualified expenses for 1099-Q funds are tuition, books, lab fees, AND room & board. That's it. If there are any excess 1099-Q funds they are taxable. The amount is transferred as indicated above with one exception. For the 1040 excess ESA/QTP funds get transferred to line 21 with the annotation “SCH” next to it.

Finally, out of pocket money is applied to qualified education expenses. The only qualified expenses for out of pocket money is tuition, books, and lab fees. Room & board is NOT a qualified expense for out of pocket money.

When you have a 1099-Q it is extremely important that you work through the education section of the program in the order it is designed and intended to be used. If you do not, then there is a high probability that you will not be asked for room & board expenses, and you could therefore be TAXED on your 1099-Q funds.

Finally, if "all" qualified expenses are covered by scholarships, grants, 1099-Q funds and there is ANY of those funds left over, the left over excess is taxable. While the parent can still claim the student as a dependent, it is the student who will report all the education stuff on the student's tax return. That's because the STUDENT pays the taxes on any excess scholarships, grants and 1099-Q funds.

topic I'm a new college student that is broke and is applying for fasfa this year but they need my 2015 tax returns that i filled with turbotax. but you guys arent letting me? in After you file

I'm a new college student that is broke and is applying for fasfa this year but they need my 2015 tax returns that i filled with turbotax. but you guys arent letting me?

You can get a free 2015 transcript here: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript">https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript</a>

Is access to the 2015 return locked because it was prepar...

And ALWAYS, ALWAYS,ALWAYS make a hard copy of your tax re...

Be aware of the below too. At tax time, you won't get any...