College & Career Training in Alaska

As we are about to descend upon FAFSA season, a question commonly asked is where does your Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend(PFD) go on your FAFSA?  Well, it all depends if you filed taxes or not, and who filed them.

If you filed your 2018 tax return, you will either be able to use the IRS Data-Retrieval Tool (IRS-DRT) or manually enter your parents and/or your tax information.  The IRS-DRT method does require the use of your Financial Student Aid ID (FSAID)  and it is strongly recommended because it securely connects your FAFSA to the IRS database and transfers applicable tax information for you.  If you are selected for FAFSA verification, having used the IRS-DRT eases the verification process.

If you are a dependent student (most students straight out of high school), it’s possible that the parents claimed the student on their taxes, which would include both the student’s and parent’s Alaska PFDs.  The PFD would be included into the adjusted gross income for the parents, which can be found on IRS Form 1040-Line 7.  This question is one that the IRS-DRT will import for you.  If you are having to manually enter your tax information, you would put your adjusted gross income in the parent portion of the FAFSA under question 85.

If you are an independent student, or if you are a dependent student and filed your own taxes, your PFD is most likely calculated in your adjusted gross income.  If you don’t use the IRS-DRT, you will be able to manually input your adjusted gross income under question 36.

The FAFSA does ask “Did (or will) you file a Schedule 1 with your 2018 tax return?”  If you did not file or you only filed a Schedule 1 to report your Alaska PFD, you will answer this question with a “no” response. 

If you have any questions about the FAFSA and how to fill it out, please come by the ACPE Success Center located at the Dimond Center Mall.  For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call us at 1 (800) 441-2962, option #4.