Question about tax return, financial aid?

I know a family that own a business and the income is over $100k per year. Yet, they claimed all false informations like they're making $1k per month... all the behind the table stuffs... also, their kids also does that to get benefits from financial aid for years already. I feel this is unfair and really do want to do a job as a citizen to report it... What do you guys think? Am I being too nosy? I feel like it's unfair for other people..... Thanks

To Financial Aid Expert, I don't have any evidence but I am too tired of all their actions. I mean they owned a nail salon and not reporting their incomes, trying to get as much out of the government as they can... Their taxes return, they said they're working for 1k per month... give me a break, i know that they do make more than 2k per week...

I appreciate your desire to have financial aid go to the right students-those who need it. The less we give away to those who do not have the need the more we have to give to those who do.

Anyone suspecting fraud, waste or abuse involving Department of Education funds or programs should call or write the Inspector General's Hotline (choose the method of contact which best suits you):

Send an email message to oig.hotline@ed.gov
Call the OIG Hotline's toll free number 1-800-MIS-USED. The Hotline's operating hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9:00 AM until 11:00 AM, Eastern Time; Tuesday and Thursday, 1:00 PM until 3:00 PM, Eastern Time except for holidays.
Complete and submit a Complaint Form (English, Espa帽ol)
To ensure complete anonymity, download a hardcopy of the special complaint form, complete, and mail to:
Inspector General's Hotline
Office of Inspector General
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202-1500

Your report may be made anonymously or in confidence.

Fafsa applications (and tax returns) for people who are self employed are a bit more complicated than a simple annual income. Unless you are a licensed accountant and know exactly what the monthly business expenses are, I'd worry about yourself first.

I work in Financial Aid and occasionally we get calls just like yours...

Someone will call and say, "So-and-so is using all their financial aid for drugs," or "So-and-so drives a Mercedes and still gets a financial aid check, so I think something must not be right," etc.

There is nothing we can do about this. We cannot investigate someone and require them to submit documents to our office for investigation based on hearsay. There may be things about their situation that you are not even aware of. For example, when someone owns their own business, although their gross receipts may total a certain amount, after business expense deductions,amount could be much much less. I have seen a tax return for a parent's business that had gross receipts of over $1 million that they deducted all the way down to under $40,000! And this is legal--you can deduct all sort of expenses from your income if you are self-employed (advtertising, business use of your car or home, etc.)

So, even you feel that they are scamming the system, there really is nothing that you can do about it. Only if conflicting information is provided to the Financial Aid Counselor can an investigation be done. Usually people who are providing false info on the FAFSA will sooner or later slip up on their story and the facade will come to an end.