How to Provide Federal Income Tax Information
Students selected for the Verification process may be required to provide the financial aid office with income tax information.
Students and/or parents have two options to submit Tax Information to the Financial Office:
- Use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool during the FAFSA application process. The IRS Data Retrieval Tool is the best method to submit your tax information to the Financial Aid Office.
Get information on the IRS Data Retrieval Tool >>
- Provide a Tax Return Transcript from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Get information on how to request an IRS Tax Return Transcript >>
Verification Information:
Remember that not all students are selected for verification. The Student Aid Report (SAR) that the FAFSA applicants receive electronically from the Department of Education once they have applied, will indicate if they are selected for verification. Also, students can see the verification requirements on their Financial Aid Checklist in mycampus.astate.edu.
Please note, FAFSA applicants can be selected for verification if any changes are made to the original FAFSA application. So, even if the first application was not selected for verification, once a corrected application is processed, it may be selected for verification.
- It is much more likely for a FAFSA application to be selected for verification if the applicant does NOT complete the IRS data retrieval in the FAFSA application or if the applicant changes the IRS data once the tax information was retrieved into the FAFSA.
- We very strongly recommend that FAFSA applicants complete their taxes early and then use the IRS data retrieval process within FAFSA on the web, if possible.
- It is true, some applicants cannot use the IRS data retrieval. Therefore, these applicants are very strongly advised to keep a copy of their tax return, and request a copy of the IRS tax transcript as soon as possible, in case they are selected for verification.
Please feel free to ask our office questions at any time regarding this process. These changes are effective immediately. Contact us at (870) 972-2310 or by email at finaid@astate.edu.
Also, please feel free to call 1-800-4-FED-AID to ask general questions about these new processes. The Department of Education will also send out email reminders to applicants to complete the IRS data retrieval if they have not done so.
