IRS partnered with the Department of Education (ED) to simplify the online process to apply for Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and Income Driven Repayment (IDR) plans by providing limited tax information necessary to verify income for these programs directly to ED. The automated process will happen in real-time. ED will release tax data to the college or career school's financial aid office listed by the student on the application. With this change, the IRS will no longer accept Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization, or Form 4506-C, IVES Request for Transcript of Tax Return from loan servicers, college or career school’s financial aid office or other third parties for FAFSA related income verification. If you need assistance with your FAFSA application visit ED Contact Us | Federal Student Aid or call1-800-433-3243. Congress changed the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to improve the security of tax records and protect the privacy rights of taxpayers and the confidentiality of their tax matters. The IRC provides for the strict confidentiality of tax return information and restricts disclosure of tax information for non-tax programs to only what is necessary and specifically authorized by law.
