My son got a refund and he get fafsa he lives with me and stepdad were on ssi he has no income so does he have to file taxes what will happen if he doesnt want too

[lawson044]

My son takes online classes and is part time going for his bs degree he has no income and lives with me and his stepdad we only get ssi ... he gets fafsa and just recently got a refund for 1138.24 does he have to file taxes .And what happens if he doesnt want to ..

[Carl]

If the student has no income, then the student has no tax liability. Therefore, the student is not required to file a return. Period. It has nothing to do with the parent's tax filing requirements.

[lawson044]

Ok thanks..but since we are on SSI do we have to file anything

[Carl]

"We" are on SSI? I think you meant to say that "you" are on SSI.
Basically, if SSI is your only source of income for the entire year, then you have no need to file a tax return at all.
Now some colleges have what I consider to be absolute idiots in the front office, who "insist" on a tax return for aid qualification reasons. So be it. But don't waste your time or money using TurboTax to file a zero taxable income return. Besides, you can't e-file a zero income return, and if you mail a zero income return to the IRS they won't even process it. It just goes straight to the shredder.
Instead, go to <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf">https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf</a> and print out a blank 2018 form 1040 there. Then fill it out with the needed personal information. all zeros everywhere else and sign and date it. Then give that to the school telling them you "filed" it. Don't bother sending a copy to the IRS, since they'll just shred it anyway.

[lawson044]

But wouldn't that get him into trouble if he printed out a form like that and told them he filed it when he actually didn't ..

[Carl]

Again, the IRS flat out will not process a zero income return. Period. It goes straight from the envelope they receive it in, to the shredder. There is no record they actually received a zero income return, because you are not required to file a zero income return. With over 300,000,000 tax returns to process within 90 days every year, the IRS is not going to waste the time with a zero income return. So even if you mail a zero income return to the IRS, the IRS will not have any record of it what-so-ever, since they will not process it.

[lawson044]

I understand what you are saying about the IRS ,but what i'm saying is you said for him to print one and fill it out and give it to the school saying he filed it wouldn't that be wrong for him to do something like that and wouldnt that being lying to them and wouldn't that be considered giving false information to the college ..

[Carl]

Do you think the school is going to call the IRS and ask them if he filed a return? They're not. You can also go to <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcripts">http://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcripts</a> and request the IRS mail a letter of non-filing, if you don't mind waiting 3-4 weeks for that letter to arrive.

[lawson044]

Well i would rather for him to get the non filing letter than to do something like that..Just my opinion

[lawson044]

And for one it is we are on SSI me and my Husband ..And too he already files his taxes for 2018 and got them back already i was trying to say next year will he have to file if he still hasnt had a job..He only worked from May 22nd to 9/28/2018 and thats it..Hasnt had a job since then..And when he has to redo the stuff for college again what does he have to report to them from the Irs