CSS question about “Untaxed income and benefits”

[LionsTigersAndBears]

Under “Parent 2024 Income and Benefits”, it has {Parent A}'s income from work and {Parent B}'s income from work, and then Untaxed income and benefits, which notes that it should include “Retirement contributions (IRA/Keogh accounts, 401k, 403b, 457, etc.)”. It also asks What are the source(s) of this untaxed income?

So, to make up some numbers, if Parent A makes $100, and Parent B makes $60, and they’re putting $20 from Parent A’s income into a pre-tax (401k) retirement account, should the 401k amount be subtracted from the “Parent A income” line ($100 - $20, so $80), and “Untaxed income” be $20?

So, as a visual version, should it look like this?

Parent 2024 Income and Benefits
Parent A’s income from work	$80
Parent B’s income from work	$60
Untaxed income and benefits	$20
What are the sources of this untaxed income?	Parent A’s salary

Or … what should that look like? If there’s a company match (let’s say it’s $4), how does that affect those numbers?

(It’s so much easier when they just say “enter the number on line 11”!)

[LionsTigersAndBears]

Oh, wait. I’m now thinking the “401k” there is for people who are withdrawing money from their 401k?

So if I’m still contributing to retirement, even if it’s pre-tax money, that’s not income at all, so the table would look like this:

Parent 2024 Income and Benefits
Parent A’s income from work	$100
Parent B’s income from work	$60
Untaxed income and benefits	$0
What are the sources of this untaxed income?	-

Though if anyone knows for sure, I’d love your insights.

[AlanApar]

The income reported on your W2 that feeds into the income you will put on your 1040 excludes pre-tax retirement contributions. So that wouldn’t go on the ‘income from work’ line that draw from tax returns.
So they ask for you to report that separately as untaxed income (which it is).
So yes, it should like your first thought - not your second (they aren’t asking for your retirement plan distributions in that question - those are taxed).

[LionsTigersAndBears]

I called the College Board and they answered relatively quickly (surprising, considering how close this is to so many EA/ED deadlines). The representative noted the same thing you did, @AlanApar: better to subtract the retirement amount from the total income line and report it on the “untaxed income” line.

They also noted, though, that it’s “just a rough estimate”, and that if a correction was needed for a CSS profile, it might be best to reach out to the school directly, rather than “using your one CSS Profile correction” for that item.