Back to FAFSA® Guide 2025-26

How to answer other parent income tax questions on the FAFSA®

Here’s a guide for how to correctly fill in 2025-26 FAFSA® tax questions for the other parent and add your signature and consent. You or your spouse only need to fill this out if you filed separate tax returns.

  FAFSA® other parent basic information questions

FAFSA® preparer information questions  

Providing consent to transfer federal tax information from the IRS

Why do they need this info?

  • For your student to be eligible for federal aid, you have to consent to allow the FAFSA® to import your tax return information directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for your application. Providing consent also lets you skip the remaining income tax questions on the FAFSA®, making it faster to complete. 

Can I skip these questions?

  • Not if you want your student to get federal FAFSA® money! You must answer AND provide consent, or your student will be ineligible for federal financial aid. 
  • Even if you type in your tax return information yourself (which you can do if you decline to provide consent), your student still won’t qualify for federal aid.

How to answer these questions

  • For the online application, select “Approve” to consent to transfer federal tax information from the IRS. 
  • For the paper version, on question 46 check the circle next to “Approval to transfer federal tax information from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)”.
  • Provide your signature and the date. 

FAFSA guide screenshot consent to transfer to IRS 

 

46 Other Parent Consent and Signature

Refer to the consent terms on page 4. By filling in the answer circle below and signing this form, the parent agrees to the terms set forth on page 4. If the other parent does not provide consent by filling in the circle and providing their signature, we cannot process this FAFSA form.

  • Consent to transfer federal tax information from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
  • Parent signature
  • Date signed

 

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Other parent tax return info

Why do they need this info?

  • The FAFSA® looks at parent tax returns when figuring out the student’s financial aid eligibility.
  • The student’s other parent (the one who did not complete the previous parent tax questions) needs to provide their tax info in this section if you filed separate tax returns. 

Can I skip these questions?

  • Yes, as long as you provide consent to transfer federal tax information from the IRS.
  • Your FAFSA® will not be processed unless you provide this consent.
  • On the paper form, you can skip all of question 45 as long as you provide electronic transfer consent in question 46.
  • The FAFSA® will import your tax return info into your application once you’ve provided consent.

How to answer these questions

  • Check “Consent to transfer federal tax information from the Internal Revenue Service” (question 46, Other Parent Consent and Signature on the paper version).

Fafsa guide other parent identity 

44 Other Parent Tax Filing Status

Did or will the other parent file a 2023 IRS Form 1040 or 1040-NR?

Yes
No

If the answer is “No,” indicate which one of the following situations applies to the other parent for 2023:

If one of the options in the second column below is selected and the parent is unmarried, question 45 can be skipped.

  • The other parent filed or will file a tax return with Puerto Rico or another U.S. territory.
  • The parent filed or will file a foreign tax return.
  • Either the other parent earned income in a foreign country but still did not and will not file a foreign tax return or they were an employee of an international organization that did not require them to file a tax return. Such international organizations include, for example, the United Nations, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund.
  • The other parent, even though they earned income in the U.S., did not and will not file a U.S. tax return because their income was below the tax filing threshold.
  • The other parent did not and will not file a U.S. tax return for reasons other than low income.
  • The other parent did not and will not file any tax return because they did not earn any income.

45 Other Parent Tax Return Information

  • Filing status

Single
Head of household 
Married filing jointly
Married filing separately
Qualifying surviving spouse

Convert all currency to U.S. dollars. If the answer is zero or the question does not apply, enter 0.

If the answer is negative, completely fill the circle ( – ) after the answer box.

  • Income earned from work

IRS Form 1040—line 1 (or IRS Form 1040-NR—line 1a) +
Schedule 1—lines 3 + 6

  • Tax exempt interest income

IRS Form 1040: line 2a

  • Untaxed portions of IRA distributions

IRS Form 1040: line 4a minus 4b

  • IRA rollover into a qualified plan

IRS Form 5498

  • Untaxed portions of pensions

IRS Form 1040: line 5a minus 5b

  • Pension rollover into a qualified plan

IRS Form 5498

  • Adjusted gross income

IRS Form 1040: line 11

  • Income tax paid

IRS Form 1040: line 25d

  • Did the parent receive the earned income tax credit (EITC)?

IRS Form 1040: line 27a

Yes
No
Don’t know

  • IRA deductions and payments to self-employed

SEP, SIMPLE, and qualified plans
IRS Form 1040 Schedule 1: total of lines 16 + 20

  • Education credits

(American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning credits)
IRS Form 1040 Schedule 3: line 3

  • Did the other parent file a Schedule A, B, D, E, F, or H with their 2023 IRS Form 1040?

Yes
No
Don’t know

  • Net profit or loss from IRS Form 1040 Schedule C

IRS Form 1040 Schedule C: line 31

  • Foreign earned income exclusion

IRS Form 1040 Schedule 1: line 8d

2025-26 FAFSA® questions 

Choose the FAFSA® questions you would like help with.

footnote Sallie Mae does not provide, and these materials are not meant to convey, financial, tax, or legal advice. Consult your own financial advisor, tax advisor, or attorney about your specific circumstances.

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