FAFSA joint tax return confusion - Do I duplicate income info for spouse?

For joint tax returns, you DO NOT duplicate the numbers. You'll enter the AGI from your joint return once in the parent section. However, you will need to separately report each parent's income earned from work (W-2 amounts). For the "preparer" question - no, you don't need to list a preparer if you and your son are completing the FAFSA yourselves. The preparer section is only for situations where you've hired someone (like a consultant or accountant) to complete the form on your behalf. Hope this helps with your 2025-2026 application!

we did FASFA 4 times with 2 kids and i always got confused on this same thing lol. you only put the joint number ONCE for the AGI and tax stuff. but yea each parent has their own work income from the W2s. good luck!

Just to add a bit more detail - when reporting income earned from work for joint tax filers, you'll need to look at Box 1 on each of your W-2 forms to separate the amounts properly. If either of you had self-employment income, that needs to be allocated to the correct parent too. This is important because the FAFSA uses each parent's income differently in the Student Aid Index calculation. Also, make sure you're using the correct tax year for the 2025-2026 FAFSA. They changed the rules recently, and now you need to use tax information from two years prior to the start of the academic year.

Wait I'm confused about something else - if the student's part is done and you're doing the parent part, doesn't that mean the student was the one who created the account? My daughter did hers last month but I had to create my own FSA ID to do the parent section. Did your son give you his login or something?

I spent 3 HOURS on hold with Federal Student Aid last week trying to get answers to similar questions about the parent section!!! The website is so confusing and the instructions contradict themselves. It's ridiculous that they make this process so complicated when families are just trying to get help paying for college!!

The joint tax return question trips up so many parents! Here's the simple breakdown: 1. AGI, taxes paid, etc. - enter ONCE (your joint figures) 2. Income from work - enter SEPARATELY (your W-2 amount in your section, spouse's W-2 in their section) 3. Preparer - only if you paid someone outside your family to fill out the FAFSA I've completed the FAFSA for three kids through college and this part always confused me too. The key is understanding that the system needs to know how much each parent individually earned from work for the SAI formula, but other tax figures are just entered once from your joint return.

btw i think the fasfa changed a lot this year with that new SAI thing instead of EFC so don't feel bad for being confused even if u did it before!!

My daughter had to lsit me as a preparer when i helped her with her section is that wrong??

One more important tip: double-check that your income numbers match your tax return exactly. The IRS Data Retrieval Tool is the best way to ensure accuracy. Even small discrepancies between what you manually enter and what the IRS has on file can trigger verification, which is a headache you don't want. If you're entering manually, have your actual tax returns in front of you, not just your W-2s.

As someone who just went through this process for the first time this year, I can confirm what others have said - the joint tax return section is definitely confusing! One thing that helped me was printing out the FAFSA worksheet beforehand and filling it out on paper first. That way I could double-check everything before entering it online. Also, make sure you have your Social Security cards handy for both parents - the system sometimes asks for those numbers during the parent section and it's frustrating to have to stop and hunt them down. Good luck with your son's application!