Beware that the rules for qualifying relatives are different from qualifying children! I messed this up last year. For a qualifying relative (which is what your adult son would be), they cannot be your qualifying child or anyone else's qualifying child. The gross income test ($4,700 for 2025) is also critical - though VA benefits don't count toward this, any other income does. If he has even a part-time job that pays more than the threshold, he won't qualify regardless of how much support you provide.

This is a great question that many families with disabled veterans face. Based on what you've described, your son would likely qualify as a qualifying relative dependent if you meet the support test. Since your son is 30 and living with you due to his 100% permanent and total VA disability, you'll need to calculate whether you provide more than half of his total support. This includes not just obvious expenses like food and clothing, but also the fair market rental value of his housing, utilities, medical expenses, transportation, and any other costs you cover. The good news is that VA disability benefits are not counted toward the gross income test (which has a $4,700 limit for 2025), so that shouldn't be an issue. However, those benefits do count when determining how much he contributes to his own support versus what you provide. One important thing to consider: since your son has a permanent and total disability from the VA, you might want to check if he qualifies for the disabled adult child exception under the qualifying child rules instead. This could be more beneficial since qualifying children don't have the gross income limitation. The IRS definition of "permanently and totally disabled" might align with his VA rating. I'd recommend keeping detailed records of all expenses you pay for his support throughout the year - housing costs, food, medical expenses, utilities, transportation, etc. This documentation will be crucial for calculating the support test accurately and defending your claim if questioned.

I've been dealing with grantor trust letters for the past few years and wanted to share a few additional tips that might help others avoid some pitfalls I encountered: First, if your trust received any Schedule K-1s from partnerships or S-corps, those can be tricky because the income might already be broken down by type on your grantor letter, but you'll still need the actual K-1 forms to complete certain sections of your tax return (like figuring out any state tax withholdings or special deductions). Second, watch out for estimated tax payments that were made on behalf of the trust during the year. These should be listed on your grantor letter and you can claim them as payments made toward your personal tax liability on Form 1040. I missed this the first year and ended up overpaying significantly. Finally, if your trust sold any assets during the year, make sure the cost basis information on your grantor letter matches what you have in your records. Sometimes there are discrepancies, especially if assets were transferred into the trust at different values than what the trustee is using for tax reporting. It's worth double-checking before you file to avoid any capital gains/loss calculation errors. The learning curve is definitely steep with grantor trusts, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes much more manageable!

I just went through this exact situation a few months ago and wanted to share what worked for me after reading through all these helpful responses. One thing I'd add is to make sure you're entering the income amounts exactly as they appear on your grantor letter, not rounding them. I initially rounded some of the smaller dividend amounts to the nearest dollar in TurboTax, but then realized this could cause matching issues with what the IRS receives from the financial institutions. Also, if your trust had any foreign tax credits (mine had a small amount from an international fund), don't forget to claim those on Form 1116 or the simplified method if the amount is small enough. The grantor letter should show any foreign taxes paid, and you don't want to leave money on the table. For those using different tax software, I found that most programs have a "miscellaneous income" or "other income" section if you can't find the exact category. But as others mentioned, it's better to put dividend income in the dividend section, interest in the interest section, etc., rather than lumping everything together as miscellaneous. One last thing - keep that grantor letter with your tax documents forever! I had an IRS notice two years after filing (turned out to be nothing serious), but having that letter made it easy to explain where all the reported income came from.

This is exactly the kind of strategic thinking that can make a huge difference in your FAFSA results! Your approach of maxing out retirement contributions is spot-on - those accounts are completely excluded from the FAFSA asset calculation. One additional consideration: since you mentioned you have 5 paychecks left this year, make sure your employer's payroll system can handle the increased contribution amounts in time. Some companies need advance notice for significant 401k changes, especially near year-end when they're processing annual limits. Also, regarding your RV loan payoff strategy - that's smart because it reduces your cash assets (which count against you) while eliminating debt (which doesn't help you on FAFSA anyway since consumer debt isn't considered). Just make sure the timing works with your cash flow needs. The timing of your mutual fund sales is crucial too. You want those gains to show up in the tax year before your child's sophomore year FAFSA if possible, since FAFSA looks at the "prior-prior year" tax return. This way the income bump won't affect aid calculations until later in college when you've already benefited from the asset sheltering. One last thought - consider whether any of those mutual fund positions have losses you could harvest first. You can offset gains with losses while still accomplishing your goal of moving assets to retirement accounts.

Your strategy is really solid! I went through this same process two years ago with my oldest. One thing I'd add - don't forget about the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) when planning your income levels. You can claim up to $2,500 per student for the first four years of college, but it starts phasing out at $80K AGI for single filers ($160K for married filing jointly). Since you're looking at around $106K taxable income after retirement contributions, you should still qualify for the full credit. But it's worth keeping in mind for future years - sometimes it makes sense to manage your retirement withdrawals or Roth conversions to stay under the AOTC phase-out thresholds while your kids are in school. Also, regarding your question about distributions not counting as income for FAFSA - be careful here. While retirement account balances don't count as assets, any distributions you take (including both contributions and earnings) DO count as income on the FAFSA. So if you need to tap those accounts during college years, it will affect aid eligibility for the following year. The beauty of your current plan is that you're sheltering assets NOW while your child is applying, but you're not planning to take distributions until much later when FAFSA won't matter anymore.

Does anyone know if you can track the status of an amended return? I'm worried about my amendment getting lost in the mail or something.

Another option to consider while waiting for the amendments to process is setting up a payment plan with the IRS if your parents are concerned about the immediate financial impact. They offer both short-term (120 days or less) and long-term installment agreements that can help spread out the payments. The short-term payment plan doesn't have a setup fee, and even if your refund comes through during those 120 days, any overpayment would be refunded back to them. This might be less stressful than paying the full amount upfront while waiting months for the amendment processing. You can set up payment plans online through the IRS website or by calling them directly. Just make sure to still file those amendments ASAP since the payment plan doesn't fix the underlying dependent status issue.

For anyone else filing 1040NR and paying online, make sure you complete your payment by 8pm Eastern Time on the due date for it to count as paid on that day! I found this out the hard way last year when I submitted at 11pm Pacific (which was 2am Eastern) and got hit with a late payment penalty even though it was still the due date in my time zone. Super annoying!

Just wanted to add one more important tip for 1040NR filers making payments online - if you're using Direct Pay or any electronic payment method, make sure to keep a screenshot or printout of your confirmation page immediately after completing the payment. The IRS systems can sometimes have delays in processing non-resident payments, and having that confirmation number and timestamp has saved me twice when there were questions about whether my payment was made on time. Also, if you're paying a large amount (over $10,000), be prepared for potential additional verification steps. The payment system may require you to verify your identity through additional security questions or may put a temporary hold on the payment for review. This is normal for larger payments from non-residents, but it's good to know ahead of time so you're not surprised if it happens.