I am in an expensive graduate program and rely on federal loans and scholarships to pay tuition and living expenses. Some scholarships I currently receive (and others I'm hoping to apply to) require a copy of my annual tax return. I currently have something in the range of $25-30k invested in a variety of savings accounts, stocks, ETF's, etc. I also run some side gigs in my spare time, like selling stuff on Amazon, walking dogs, etc. When I filed taxes last year, there was a full accounting of my investment returns and work earnings. Most of the time, scholarships/grants that I apply to are awarded based on personal assets/income or whatever they see on your tax return.
Is it worth forming an LLC to "hide," so to speak, my assets from entities that award me money for school? I would mostly be doing my stock/ETF trading through the LLC, but might consider doing my side gigs through the LLC as well. My thinking is that if my trading is not seen on my personal tax return, I am more likely to be awarded the maximum amount for these scholarships.
Follow-up question: if the answer to the above is "yes," can I form an LLC in another state for this purpose? I am in MA and they have the highest filing and annual fee for LLC's in the nation.
Submitted January 27, 2019 at 09:36AM by thrushwolf25 http://bit.ly/2Uf3b7A
