<p>Look on the front page of the 1040 form. You will see that lines 7 through 21 total up to line 22 (total income). The taxable part of the SS went into that (line 20b).</p>
<p>So then stuff comes off of the total income (line 22) by subtracting out all the stuff that pertains to your family (lines 23 through 35) and you get down to line 37 which is the important one. It is called ADJUSTED GROSS INCOME. </p>
<p>You are going to take that line 37 (Adjusted gross income) and put it into the FAFSA question under the parents section that asks for Parent’s Adjusted Gross Income. That number INCLUDES the taxable social security (think of it like chocolate chip cookie dough. The SS number is the chocolate chip that got blended into the batter). </p>
<p>Make yourself a nice note on this so next year you can go whizzing through this and not have to re-engineer the process. Print off a copy of your final Fafsa so you’ll have a record to go from next year. </p>
<p>The first year of this is definitely the hardest. If you keep copies and good notes, then next year should be much easier. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>