Question 44 - Worksheet A

On Worksheet A, you (the student) should fill in the lefthand (blue) side.

Earned income credit. Enter the earned income credit from IRS Form 1040 — line 61a; 1040A — line 39a; 1040EZ — line 9a; Telefile — Line L(2).

Additional child tax credit. Report the amount from IRS Form 1040 — line 63 or 1040A — line 40.

Welfare benefits (including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families [TANF]). Enter the total amount of welfare benefits you (and your spouse) received, including TANF, in 2001. Report the amount you received for the year — not monthly amounts. Do not include food stamps or subsidized housing.

Untaxed Social Security benefits. If Social Security benefits were paid to your parents on your behalf (because you were under 18 years old at the time), those benefits are reported as your parents' income, not your income.

If you, as head of household, receive benefits on behalf of persons included in household size, these benefits must be reported as your income. However, if a member of your household, such as an uncle or grandmother, receives benefits in his or her own name, you do not report those benefits.

The actual amount of benefits received for the year in question must be reported, even if that amount represents an underpayment or an overpayment that may be compensated for in the next year. This parallels the IRS treatment of overpayments of taxable income (such as salary) that must be reported and are taxed as any other income.

Question 45 - Worksheet B

Payments to tax-deferred pension and savings plans. You must report money paid into tax-sheltered or deferred annuities (whether paid directly or withheld from earnings), including amounts reported on the W-2 Form, in Boxes 12a through 12d, codes D, E, F, G, H, and S. You must include untaxed portions of 401(k) and 403(b) plans. Note that employer contributions to tax-deferred pension and savings plans should not be reported on the FAFSA as an untaxed benefit.

IRA and other plans. Enter the amount of IRA deductions and payments to self-employed SEP, SIMPLE, and Keogh and other qualified plans. These plan payments can be found on IRS 1040 — total of lines 23 + 29 or 1040A — line 16.

Child support received. Report child support you received for all children during 2001. Do not include foster care or adoption payments.

Tax-exempt interest income. Enter the total amount of tax-exempt interest income you (and your spouse) earned in 2001, as reported on Form 1040 — line 8b or 1040A — line 8b.

Foreign income exclusion. The IRS allows eligible U.S. citizens and residents living in foreign countries to exclude a limited amount of income earned abroad. Though deducted for tax purposes, this amount is considered untaxed income for federal student aid purposes. Provide the amount of the foreign income exclusion you (and your spouse) reported for 2001 from Form 2555 — line 43 or 2555EZ — line 18.

Untaxed portions of IRA distributions.This amount can be calculated from IRS Form 1040 (lines 15a minus 15b) or 1040A (lines 11a minus 11b). If the result is a negative number, enter a zero here.

Untaxed portions of pensions. This amount can be calculated from IRS Form 1040 (lines 16a minus 16b) or 1040A (lines 12a minus 12b). If the result is a negative number, enter a zero here.

The only exception to reporting IRA or pension distributions as income is when these distributions are rolled over to another IRA or retirement plan within 60 days following the day on which you receive the distribution from the initial IRA or retirement plan.

Special fuels credit. Enter the total amount of credit for federal tax on special fuels that you (and your spouse) reported in 2001, from IRS Form 4136 — line 10 (nonfarmers only).

Housing allowances. Housing, food, and other living allowances provided to you or your spouse must be reported. This applies to compensation that some people, particularly clergy and military personnel, receive for their jobs. Include cash payments and cash value of benefits. If you received free room and board in 2001 for a job that was not awarded as student financial aid, you must report the value of the room and board as untaxed income. (This category, "housing allowances," excludes rent subsidies for low-income housing.)

Veterans noneducation benefits. Enter the total amount of veterans noneducation benefits you received in 2001. Include Disability, Death Pension, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), and/or VA Educational Work-Study allowances.

Other untaxed income and benefits. Include untaxed income or benefits not reported elsewhere on Worksheets A and B, e.g., worker's compensation, untaxed portions of railroad retirement benefits, Black Lung Benefits, Refugee Assistance, etc. Do not include benefits from flexible spending arrangements (e.g., cafeteria plans), student aid, or Workforce Investment Act (WIA) (formerly JTPA) educational benefits.

Cash received. Any cash support you receive from a friend or relative (other than your parents, if you are a dependent student) must be reported. Cash support includes payments made on your behalf. For instance, if your aunt pays your rent or utility bill, you must report those payments on Worksheet B.

Certain income and benefits should not be reported on Worksheets A and B:

• Student financial aid. Student aid received is already taken into account when a school packages your aid. However, work-study earnings must be reported as taxed income in Step Two and then excluded (on Worksheet C).
• Food stamps and other programs: Benefits received from federal, state, or local governments from the following programs are not counted as untaxed income: the Food Stamp Program; Women, Infants, and Children Program; Food Distribution Program; Commodity Supplemental Food Program; National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs; Summer Food Service Program; and Special Milk Program for Children.
• Dependent Assistance. You may be eligible to exclude a limited amount of benefits received for dependent care assistance if certain requirements are met. Generally, up to $5,000 of benefits may be excluded from an employee's gross income, or $2,500 for a married employee who files a separate return from his or her spouse. This exclusion cannot exceed the employee's (or his or her spouse's) earned income. (Note: Some states provide reimbursement for childcare expenses incurred by welfare recipients through TANF. You must report this on the application because you bill the state for the amount of childcare costs incurred while on welfare and are reimbursed on that basis.)
• Per capita payments to Native Americans. You should not report individual per capita payments received in 2001 from the Per Capita Act or the Distribution of Judgment Funds Act unless any individual payment exceeds $2,000. Thus, if an individual payment were $1,500, you would not report it on your application. However, if a payment were $2,500, you would report the amount that exceeds $2,000: $500.
• Heating/fuel assistance. Exclude from consideration as income or resources any payments or allowances received under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act (LIHEA). (Note: Payments under the LIHEA are made through state programs that may have different names.)

Question 46 - Worksheet C

Exclusions from taxed income. Because the items listed in this worksheet will be excluded from income when the Department's processor performs the EFC calculation, you should not subtract them from your responses to the income questions in Step Two. These amounts should be calculated on the basis of what was received between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2001 and not what was received during the school year.

Education credits. The Hope and Lifetime Learning tax credits benefit students or parents who pay tuition and related expenses for attendance at least half time in a degree-granting program. These tax credits are subtracted directly from the total federal tax on a tax return. Enter the total amount of Hope and Lifetime Learning credits you received in 2001, from Form 1040 — line 46; 1040A — line 29. For more information about these tax credits, visit the IRS web site.

Child support payments. Report any child support payments paid during 2001 by you (or your spouse) because of divorce or separation. Do not include support for children in your household, as reported in the "number in household" question on the FAFSA (Question 84 for independent students). For purposes of the FAFSA, a child is a member of your household if you provide more than half of the child's support, whether the child lives with you or not.

Taxable earnings from work-study or other need-based work programs. You should report earnings from work as income in Step Two of the FAFSA. However, if those earnings are part of a financial aid package and are intended as need-based financial assistance, you should also report them on Worksheet C as an exclusion from income.

Student grants and other awards. Report any student grant, scholarship, or fellowship aid, including AmeriCorps awards, that was reported to the IRS in your AGI.

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