Hello,

I applied for financial aid in my college and they asked me to turn in my dad tax returns.

My dad is married but he qualified for Head Household taxes since my mom is non-resident alien. The problem is my financial aid is office said my dad need to do re do his tax return and file as married filing seperatly. If my dad file that he has to return 2500 $ to IRS some tax credit.

In IRS Publication 501 on page 7 clearly indicate since my mom is non-resident alien my dad can by head of household. I explained at that my financial aid office and they said it was wrong. If I'm going by IRS law why my financial aid office not accepting. My dad did not include my mom on exemption because she works in her country.

What I can do to prove my dad filed right tax return?

Our accountant said if in any way my financial office can prove that tax were filed wrong then he will take them to court. My accountant is pretty confident when he said that. Our accountant said he has no problem fighting in court since he don't have to pay any lawyer fee because he has some kind of insurance that covers him free lawyer consultation and fight case.

In this case your accountant is correct if your Father is a resident.

The rule clearly states:
Head of household.
You can qualify as head of household if you are unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year and you pay more than half the cost of keeping up a home for you and a qualifying person.

You are considered unmarried for this purpose if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you do not make one of the choices discussed in chapter 1 to treat your spouse as a resident alien for the entire tax year.

You must be a resident alien for the entire tax year (which means 1/1/08-12/31/08)

Source: Pub. 519, Filing status-Resident Aliens- Head of Household.

I would be interested to read the argument of your financial aid office. They appear to be in error here.

Furthermore, if your Mother wishes to obtain an ITIN, your Father may take a spousal exemption (2008=3,500) as long as your Mother had no US sourced income. Getting an ITIN in no way exposes her to US taxation.

He still files HOH.

If that is the case he may amend his tax returns going back to 2006 and profit thereby.

Thanks for you quick response.

I guess I will go to financial aid office on Monday and take Publication 501 and 519 with me.

BTW my dad is US citizen. I don't why that guy keep saying to me my dad need to file married but separate.

My dad qualify for three options in tax return

First married but separate
2nd married jointly
3rd head household

Our accountant said head household is the most beneficial so we went for that and got extra 2500 $ from IRS.

I guess if that guy tells me again our tax return was wrong I will ask him to write me that statement because I'm going court.


Or talk to financial aid director about him being wrong.

I wonder who it is that you're talking to in the financial aid office. At my school's financial aid office, the people at the front desk are just students that sometimes know what they are talking about, but more often that not really just know what papers you need to sign because they really just file. And anything after that is just their opinions. I always have to see one of the actual financial aid officers to get my aid straightened out because I file as an independent. And the people at the front desk always tell me I can't even though I clearly can. So I argue with them and they finally get someone from the back who actually knows what's going on. So is this actually the director you are talking to or just one of the people at the front desk?

Same here man we have student in front desk always telling what to do but they didn't understand my case so they called this from his office who is financial aid specialist.

BUT any suggestion if keep saying that tax returns are wrong. What should I do then ?

Make sure you have those laws that five rings cited. And ask him where he is getting his information from. I remember the fafsa asking what form you filed for your taxes. But I don't remember it saying that you had to file a certain one. I'd love to know why this guy thinks he knows better than the IRS what tax forms your father can file.

Thanks every one for answering the question

But the problem how should I fight with that financial aid guy because he has my case to him.

I have to options

- talk to financial director at my college
- or go to court

What are you sugggestions ?

Talk with this guy again since he has your case. Print out the laws that were cited and show them to him. Also ask where he is getting his information from. If he still says your dad has to re-file, talk to the director.

Ans501:

I am curious as to HOW your father qualified for an extra $2,500 in refund by filing HoH. It has been my experience that filing Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) is almost always the best way to go.

The only exception would be if the Earned Income Credit (EIC) was a consideration.

If your father qualified for the EIC by filing HoH, then, unfortunately, the university is correct: your father filed an improper tax return.

Your father IS allowed to file HoH if he is married to a non-resident alien and he chooses NOT to file MFJ. However, he is NOT eligible for the EIC if he chooses this option. Further, he is also NOT eligible for the EIC if he files MFJ.