Becky Harper
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 10:55 pm
Post subject: Tax returns, audits & fraud? |
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My widowed girlfriend has filled out the FAFSA without mentioning that
she has remarried. Her new husband's financial affairs are a mess, he
has no tax returns for the past few years due to extensions and other
delaying tactics, and he will not contribute to the college expenses.
She says that she was advised "off the record" at a financial aid
seminar to just not mention her marriage status on the FAFSA. Word is
that the Feds and/or the colleges don't cross reference with tax
returns, don't ask for tax returns except in rare cases, don't pull
credit reports, etc. This is hard to believe. Are there no
proceedures to verify income, assets, marital status, etc?? When a
financial aid award is made by a college, isn't there some process to
audit the data that was submitted on the FAFSA?
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Steve Blank
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 11:20 pm
Post subject: Re: Tax returns, audits & fraud? |
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Becky Harper wrote:
| Quote: | My widowed girlfriend has filled out the FAFSA without mentioning that
she has remarried. Her new husband's financial affairs are a mess, he
has no tax returns for the past few years due to extensions and other
delaying tactics, and he will not contribute to the college expenses.
She says that she was advised "off the record" at a financial aid
seminar to just not mention her marriage status on the FAFSA. Word is
that the Feds and/or the colleges don't cross reference with tax
returns, don't ask for tax returns except in rare cases, don't pull
credit reports, etc. This is hard to believe. Are there no
proceedures to verify income, assets, marital status, etc?? When a
financial aid award is made by a college, isn't there some process to
audit the data that was submitted on the FAFSA?
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False responses are dangerous.
During FAFSA processing, the government flags 30% of FAFSA's for the
verification process. Colleges must verify at least those, and some
colleges routinely verify everybody 100%. Verification involves
requesting copies of the parent/student tax returns, plus another
worksheet of information.
The Department of Education is also testing a system to automatically
match FAFSA info to IRS tax return records.
Thene there are the students themselves. They will be making friends in
college and talking about themselves. there have been cases where what
they tell a friend makes it's way back to an aid official. If the
college ever has reason to suspect fraud, they are obligated to
investigate.
You might remind your friend that signing the FAFSA is like signing the
tax return - if it's deliberately false there can be loss of aid and
criminal penalties against both the parent and the student.
--
Steven B. Blank
College Financial Aid Consultants
29 Ives Hill Court
Cheshire, CT 06410
(203)250-7761 |
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