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Lupine
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| Joined: | Thu May 17th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 142 |
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Posted: Thu Sep 13th, 2007 03:03 pm |
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D is a hs junior, but I'm working through the College Board's financial aid estimator to see again what we might be looking at, scary though the numbers are.
But I'm struggling a bit here. AGI -- I'm just pulling that off of last year's tax return, so that's ok. Unfortunately, the non-taxable benefits question is confusing me mightily. We have an HSA/high deductible health insurance plan through my husband's employer. We funded it with $4K, which has already been fully used. (Sigh.) Our deductible is also $4K, so we don't have additional pure medical expenses this year. If we're lucky next year, we might end up with a balance of $1000 - $1500 in the HSA by the end of the year. We also have a "Limited FSA" (flexible spending account, also known as a 125 plan) that can be used to pay for dental, orthotics, and other medically related expenses that are not part of covered expenses or deductibles under the health care plan. In round numbers, our health insurance (the high deductible plan) costs our family $1200 per year that is taken out pre-tax. H's employer contributes another $1500 to pay for insurance, which is not taxed to us. Some years (not this one, knock on wood) we've had expensive dental work that pushed over the available amount in the FSA by $1000-2000. We never itemize medical expenses since everything but the expensive dental work is taken out of pre-tax income.
H also gets some employer-paid life insurance -- he pays tax on some part of it (like over a certain face value) but doesn't have to pay tax on the rest.
Then there's the 401K, to which he contributes the max, and his employer 3% match, which isn't taxable to us either. He isn't covered by a pension plan.
I'm not sure what, if any, of these amounts should be added back for the question on non-taxable benefits. Any clarifications or a pointer in the direction of better instructions would be greatly appreciated. I can't imagine the goofy data that's being put in based on the question as it is posed on the website, but I'd rather know what the truth is sooner rather than later.
Thanks!
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Thumper
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| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 223 |
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Posted: Thu Sep 13th, 2007 09:57 pm |
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| If you print out the FAFSA worksheet (you would be using the one for the 2006-07 school year at this point...which would go with the 2006 tax year)...the worksheet actually TELLS you which lines of your tax return go in which boxes on your FAFSA. When you do your tax return, there are those little boxes on your W-2 forms. The tax form directions tell you which ones you need to indicate on your taxes and where...and these include accounts to which you are referring. If you just use what is on your taxes, you should be fine. You can look at the old form for comparison right now...the new one won't be available for filing until Jan 1, 2008.
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Lupine
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| Joined: | Thu May 17th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 142 |
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Posted: Thu Sep 13th, 2007 11:04 pm |
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Thanks! I was using the estimator on the CB website, and I guess that it just leaves all that out in favor of simplicity. A challenge is that we didn't have the HSA last year, so our 2006 tax records don't reflect that.
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entomom
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| Joined: | Mon Mar 6th, 2006 |
| Location: | Oregon USA |
| Posts: | 362 |
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Posted: Thu Sep 13th, 2007 11:08 pm |
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I had this question last year, here is what I posed on a CC thread:
I was unsure of my Flexible spending account for uncovered medical costs AND my Health insurance premiums, both of which are taken out pretax. So finally I called up the FAFSA hotline and the answer was NO, neither of these is added back in on Worksheet B.
[sorry for the red, I can't seem to get rid of it  ]
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Lupine
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| Joined: | Thu May 17th, 2007 |
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| Posts: | 142 |
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Posted: Thu Sep 13th, 2007 11:19 pm |
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entomom wrote: I had this question last year, here is what I posed on a CC thread:
I was unsure of my Flexible spending account for uncovered medical costs AND my Health insurance premiums, both of which are taken out pretax. So finally I called up the FAFSA hotline and the answer was NO, neither of these is added back in on Worksheet B.
[sorry for the red, I can't seem to get rid of it ]
Yay! That's the answer I was hoping to hear.
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CarolynLawrence
Administrator
| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 3279 |
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Posted: Thu Sep 13th, 2007 11:50 pm |
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Just sent you some additional resources, but wanted to mention that instead of the CB estimator, you might try the http://www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov/ This was just introduced last April and it includes all of the latest changes to the FAFSA.
Also, most colleges will consider non-reimbursed medical expenses under a "special circumstances" appeal. You might want to talk to some of the colleges that end up on your daughter's list to see if they would prefer to know about these expenses before you file the FAFSA/PROFILE or after the initial award is made. Each school will use their own professional judgement about them, but it never hurts to ask about ANY "extra" expenses that aren't reflected on either the FAFSA or the PROFILE.
Last edited on Thu Sep 13th, 2007 11:52 pm by CarolynLawrence
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Just_Me
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| Joined: | Mon Mar 6th, 2006 |
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Posted: Sat Sep 22nd, 2007 07:00 pm |
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Agree with entomom
We just started a Kaiser HSA this year (Health Savings Account). We called our son's school (UCB) and they said not to include it in the FAFSA
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