FAFSA 2025-2026: Does student report W-2 wages if claimed on father's taxes after divorce?

Yes, your son absolutely needs to report his W-2 wages on the 2025-2026 FAFSA regardless of who claimed him on their taxes. The FAFSA requires all student income to be reported, even if they were claimed as a dependent on someone else's tax return. This is because the student's income is considered separately from the parent's information in the SAI calculation. The system is looking at both your finances (as the custodial parent completing the parent portion) and your son's own earnings.

omg im in the exact same situation!! my parents r divorced and i worked at target last year and my dad claimed me but my mom is doing my fafsa too!! following to see what ppl say

Just to add some clarity here - the 2025-2026 FAFSA uses the 2023 base year for income reporting. Your son's W-2 wages MUST be reported regardless of who claimed him as a dependent. This isn't related to tax dependency at all. Here's how it works: 1. You (as custodial parent) report your income information 2. Your son reports his income information 3. Who claimed him on taxes doesn't affect what income gets reported, just WHO reports parental information The simplified needs test does have an income threshold that might exempt some student income from counting in the calculation, but you still need to report it on the application itself.

We went thru this last yr and yes ur son MUST report all income from his W-2 no matter what! The who-claimed-who on taxes is totally different from FAFSA requirements and they don't talk to each other about that stuff. It's 2 separate systems!!! Just make sure ur the parent filling out the form not ur ex since ur the custodial one

my sister had this EXACT problem last year trying to fill out her fafsa. called like 50 times and kept getting hung up on by the automated system. ended up not getting her application in on time and lost out on so much aid. such a messed up system when parents are divorced!!

To address your question about income thresholds - student income protection allowance for the 2025-26 FAFSA is around $7,600 (they adjust it yearly). So if your son made $3,450, a good portion may be protected under this allowance. But to be clear: you still REPORT the full amount on the FAFSA. The formula will automatically apply the income protection allowance when calculating your SAI (Student Aid Index, which replaced the old EFC).

Everyone keeps focusing on the W-2 part but missing another important point: make absolutely sure YOU are the parent who should be filing the FAFSA. It's not about who claimed the student on taxes - it's about where the student lived most during the past 12 months before filing. If your son lived with his father more nights than with you, then technically his father should be doing the parent portion regardless of who's more involved with his college process.

Just to give you some additional peace of mind about student income: The formula is designed so that reasonable student earnings don't dramatically harm aid eligibility. After the protection allowance, only 50% of remaining student income counts against aid eligibility in the calculation. So if your son earned $3,450, as you mentioned, all of that would likely fall under the protection allowance and have zero impact on his aid package. Even if he earned $10,000, only about $1,200 would actually count against aid (50% of the amount over the protection allowance). The system is designed to encourage students to work without severely penalizing them in the financial aid calculation.

fafsa is THE WORST for kids with divorced parents!!!! they make it so complicated for no reason. my parents have been divorced 15 years and i still get confused every time i have to apply

One last bit of advice: make sure your son uses the IRS Data Retrieval Tool when completing his portion of the FAFSA. Even with a simple W-2 situation, this tool can help ensure the income information is transferred accurately. If he filed his own taxes for 2023 (even if his father claimed him as a dependent), the DRT will make the process much smoother.

Yes, if he didn't file taxes, you'll need to manually enter his W-2 information. Keep his W-2 handy when completing the FAFSA. You'll need to enter the exact amount from Box 1 (Wages, tips, other compensation). Since he didn't file taxes, the IRS Data Retrieval Tool won't be available for his portion. Just be sure to answer the question about filing taxes accurately by indicating he was not required to file a 2023 tax return.