Overview
Officials in the office of Federal Student Aid and the Internal Revenue Service have worked together to develop a process to simplify the steps that families must complete each year to submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid – FAFSA. Utilizing the IRS Data Retrieval system will simplify and expedite the submission and verification process. By completing this process, students who are selected for verification will no longer be required to submit signed copies of federal tax returns to our office before we determine your financial aid eligibility.
How Will This Work?
- In most cases, when the taxes are filed electronically IRS DRT is available and an IRS Tax Return Transcript may be requested within 2 – 3 weeks after the return has been accepted by the IRS. This is approximately 12 - 17 business days. All tax filers are encouraged to use the IRS DRT if eligible.
- When taxes are filed manually (by paper) and no balance is owed to the IRS the IRS DRT is available and an IRS Tax Return Transcript may be requested within 6 – 8 weeks after the tax return has been accepted by the IRS. This is approximately 32 – 42 business days.
- When taxes are filed manually (by paper) and a balance is still or was owed to the IRS the tax return will be processed in June. Once the tax return is processed the IRS DRT and IRS Tax Return Transcript may be requested within 2 – 3 weeks after the tax return has been processed by the IRS.
- If the tax filer amended their tax return it will generally take an additional 12 weeks for the tax information to be available.
- If the tax filer is a victim of identity theft please contact your financial aid counselor.
If you complete your FAFSA before you submit your taxes, you are eligible to go back into your FAFSA, make a correction, and select the IRS Data Retrieval option. If you choose not to use the IRS Data Retrieval, and you are selected for verification, you must obtain a tax transcript directly from the IRS. To utilize the IRS Data Retrieval tool, you must choose the option within the FAFSA. Once you have selected IRS Data Retrieval tool you will see the screen below:
After selecting OK, you will be redirected to the IRS site:
Completing the information above will provide the authentication necessary to retrieve your information:
Selecting the option above to transfer your information will result in a confirmation message of "Transferred to the IRS"
