Providing Tax Transcripts Was A Chalange
I recently had an appointment with a student (Jean) and her mother (Windel). Jeannie was concerned that she might have to provide IRS Tax Transcripts to her financial aid office. She had to provide them last school year and it took months to finally get the transcripts from the IRS. Thankfully, the school was still able to approve the student’s financial aid package and retroactively award Windel with a PELL Grand and Subsidized Stafford Loan.
The months that it took Windel to finally get her tax transcripts were cause for much uncertainty and stress for the parent as well as the student. This was at the height of Covid. IRS agents were working from home and busy with the CARES Act. She said that there was no one at her local IRS office and that it was very difficult to get an agent on the phone. She tried to request her transcripts online but was not successful. She called the automated phone service, but the transcripts never arrived in the mail as she had requested. This would go on for months until she finally caught an agent at the local office who was able to provide the necessary transcripts.
Submiting Your IRS Tax Return Transcript
First, if you were able to import your tax return from the IRS to the FAFSA, you will not need to provide tax transcripts to your financial aid office. Tax transcripts are imported into the FAFSA by using something called the Data Retrieval Tool. Using this tool successfully is one of the most important things you can do on the FAFSA and one of our main focuses at Do My FAFSA.
If you are unable to import your tax return into the FAFSA, then you will have to enter your tax information manually. IRS Tax Transcripts allow your financial aid office to compare your official tax records with the information that you entered on your FAFSA. If the information doesn’t match, the financial aid office will likely have you make some corrections to your financial section.
You May Be Eligable For A PELL Grant
It is also important to note that you will probably not have to provide IRS Tax Transcripts unless you get selected for verification. Typically, only people who are eligible for PELL Grants will be selected for verification. The government is not as concerned about mistakes on a FAFSA for a student who is only eligible for loans. So, if you do have to provide IRS Tax transcripts it probably means that you are eligible for a PELL Grant. It will be worth your time to stay on top of the transcripts.