So that you know the information that will be necessary, print out the FAFSA formula itself and work through it once on paper. The formula changes a little bit each year, but this will give you a good idea of what your results are likely to be. http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/a...aGuide1213.pdf
Fill it out ASAP after January 1 using estimated numbers for those you won't yet know, such as money that will be on tax returns as late as April 15. Then, once tax returns are final, update your FAFSA. That way, you get money that runs out before April 15.
And tell your parents that they need to file their taxes as early as possible. This is not the time to be getting extensions or filing at the last minute. If their taxes are complicated, they need to start communicating now with their business partners/accountants/etc. So that the numbers you will need will indeed be available in February or so.
There is a FAFSA estimator somewhere (fastfafsa). If income hasn't changed and unlikely to, then doing that using last year numbers will give you a good idea if you need it to make some college decisions.
