Tax Information for Federal Student Aid Applications

Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, students completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form will no longer be directed to the IRS to get tax records for income verification.

IRS partnered with the Department of Education (ED) to simplify the online process to apply for federal student aid and Income Driven Repayment (IDR) plans.

Congress changed the tax code to improve the security of tax records and protect the privacy rights of taxpayers and the confidentiality of their tax matters. The law now allows IRS to provide the limited tax information necessary to verify income for these programs directly to ED. The automated process will happen in real-time for individuals after providing approval to ED during the online application process.

The approval covers the release of tax data to their college or career school's financial aid office and the annual recertification of income for adjustment of student loan repayment plans. Students or their families no longer need to contact the IRS to obtain tax documentation, such as tax transcripts, and provide to their loan servicer, college or career school's financial aid office or other third parties. Taxpayers should not be asked to sign Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization, or Form 4506-C, IVES Request for Transcript of Tax Return, to authorize the release of tax information. The Internal Revenue Code 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.

Students who still need to complete a FAFSA form for the 2023-2024 academic year before the deadline on June 30, 2024, will be directed to the IRS Direct Retrieval Tool (DRT) to get income information from their 2021 tax return. They may be asked to provide a tax transcript. To obtain a tax transcript for 2021, visit Get Your Tax Record.