FAFSA contributor question - do both spouses need to be present for self-employed business?

both of u need to be there, thats what we had to do. they need signatures from both parents if ur married

For married couples, both spouses typically need to be listed as contributors on the FAFSA if you file taxes jointly. This is especially important for self-employed situations where both of you are involved in the business. Each contributor will need their own FSA ID to electronically sign the FAFSA. The system uses this information to calculate your Student Aid Index (SAI) based on your combined household income. Make sure both of you have your tax information (especially Schedule C if you're filing as sole proprietors) and business income documentation available when completing the form.

when i did fafsa last yr, my husband wasnt home when i was filling it out and i just put all HIS income info in myself. but then he had to sign it later with his own fsa id before it would submit. huge pain but whatever

This is a common confusion point with FAFSA for self-employed couples! For the 2025-2026 FAFSA, both you and your husband need to be contributors if you're married filing jointly. Here's what you need to know: 1. Both spouses must create their own FSA IDs 2. Both must be listed as contributors 3. Both must electronically sign the FAFSA The good news is that with the simplified FAFSA, much of your business income information transfers directly from your tax return using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. Just make sure you have your Schedule C and any other business tax forms available when completing the application. One thing to note: while both of you need to be contributors, only one of you needs to physically sit through the application process. The other can just log in later to provide their signature.

I had this exact same issue last year with our family business. Like others have said, you both need to be contributors, BUT you don't both have to be physically present during the entire application process. The most efficient way is for one person to complete all the information (which mostly pulls from your joint tax return anyway), and then the second person just needs to log in with their FSA ID to provide the electronic signature. One tip: if you're having trouble getting through to the Federal Student Aid helpline with questions about your specific business situation (which I did), try using Claimyr.com. They helped me skip the wait time to speak directly with a FAFSA agent who explained exactly how to report our business income correctly. There's a demo video at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. Saved me hours of frustration!

u guys r overthinking this. just put whoever makes the most money as contributor and do it fast before deadlines. thats what my friend did with her parents business and she got $$$. adding both just complicates it

FAFSA is such a nightmare for small business owners! We went through this last year with our S-corp. Spent HOURS on hold trying to reach someone who understood how to handle our payroll vs distributions. The whole contributor system is designed for W-2 employees, not self-employed people. And yes, both spouses have to be contributors which makes ZERO sense if one spouse isn't actively involved in the business. Just another way the system is broken.

Just to clarify some confusion in this thread - for the 2025-2026 FAFSA, both spouses in a married household need to be contributors and sign the application. This is true regardless of whether one or both spouses are involved in a family business. For self-employed applicants, the FAFSA will primarily use your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) from your tax return, which already includes your business income. The system is designed to capture your household's full financial picture, which is why both spouses need to be included. If you're struggling with the contributor section, I recommend using the help text within the FAFSA application itself (look for the question mark icons) or reviewing the detailed guidance on studentaid.gov before resorting to paid services.

As someone who just went through this process last month, I can confirm that both spouses definitely need to be contributors! We're also self-employed (photography business) and initially tried to just have my wife handle everything since she does our bookkeeping. The system wouldn't let us proceed without both of us being listed. The good news is that once you both have your FSA IDs set up, the actual process is pretty smooth. Most of our business income information pulled directly from our joint tax return through the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. We did have to manually enter a few details about business assets, but nothing too complicated. One thing that helped us was doing a practice run on the FAFSA website before actually submitting. You can save your progress and come back to it, so there's no pressure to complete everything in one sitting. Good luck!