<p>I efiled my 1040 tax form claiming the American Opportunity Education Tax Credit (but no other tax issues that would cause delay) yesterday. It was accepted by IRS but not yet processed. I want to know from people who have been in the same situation how long it takes from the point I am at now with my tax filing to be able to use the IRS Retrieval Tool on the FAFSA. Thanks!</p>
<p>we efiled on 2-9 with the IRS also accepting our returns on 2-11. We’re still not able to use the data retrieval tool… ugh!</p>
<p>Last year, DRT was available 2-3 weeks after e-file.</p>
<p>I e-filed federal taxes on feb 1 and as of 2/15 was not able to use the retrieval tool. Haven’t checked again this week but plan to on Friday.</p>
<p>It took exactly 10 days for my return to be processed and to use the IRS Data Retrieval tool. I had to pay and did the automatic withdraw out of my account and of course, they took my money immediately! If you owe money and you don’t pay, you won’t be able to use the tool until after you have paid. </p>
<p>I hated how you had to log into Fafsa each time you wanted to check if the DRT was available so I finally figured out that you could also go to the irs website and try to order a transcript. ([Order</a> a Transcript](<a href=“http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Order-a-Transcript]Order”>Get Transcript | Internal Revenue Service)) See the link under #3, just click there and if it allows you to order it, then you know the return has been processed and it’s FREE. Plus, if you are selected for verification, you might need the transcript anyway. Of course, if you are lucky enough to be waiting on a refund, you can just do the “where’s my refund” and it tells you the status of your return as well.</p>
<p>Also, I noticed that I didn’t get the email saying the Fafsa was processed. I was waiting for it to be processed so I could go in and delete some schools and add more. When I first did it, in the beginning of January, it took just a day or 2 but now it’s taking longer. I went in to check and sure enough, it had been processed and I finally got the email 3 days later! So if you are waiting to add more schools and are facing a deadline, just double check yourself and don’t count on the email to tell you it’s processed.</p>
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<p>Not true. But it will significantly delay the processing of your return and, hence, your ability to use the retrieval tool. According to the IRS rep whom I spoke with, returns that had money owing last year weren’t processed until early May, regardless of when they were received . . . so the retrieval tool wouldn’t have been available until at least mid-May.</p>
<p>fido,
Thanks so much for info about the shortcut, I’ve been checking daily and there was so much to type in each time, only to find it wasn’t ready yet!</p>
<p>Yes, thank you dodgersmom for correcting me. You will be able to eventually use it but it will take a long time! If you have to pay taxes, just do it asap if you want to use the drt.</p>
<p>entomom, you’re welcome. Isn’t it so much easier?! When you finally are able to actually order the transcript, you’ll know instantly that the drt is ready to use. The transcript came fast too, about a week and now I have that “at the ready” just in case since we were * for verification.</p>
<p>@fido-So you’re saying that you have to have the $ in your checking account ready to pay immediately when you e-file in order for your tax return to be processed, or can you set up a future date for it to come out of your account? We are waiting for one 1099 to be able to e-file, so I want to have everything ready when we get it. In addition, though, when my husband tried to e-file it (before he realized that we needed the 1099), turbotax stated that the IRS wasn’t able to process our return at this time. Also, do you know if you can have it come out of a savings account? Thanks so much for any information anyone can give me! This process is so frustrating! Good Luck to all going through this process!! Thanks!</p>
<p>My experience last year was that your return won’t be available for the retrieval tool or a tax transcript until the IRS receives and processes your payment if you owe an additional payment. There were several threads last year at this time with others reporting the same thing. My son mailed in a payment in late February and the tool and transcript was available mid-March.</p>
<p>You don’t have to pay immediately, you can select a date to pay, but make sure the money will be in your account and available on that date (my clients usually select 2 or 3 days after their regular pay day, just to be sure). If turbo tax told you the IRS couldn’t process your return, that’s because there’s a form that they are not yet accepting - as of 2/14 the started processing the education credits, but there are still several other forms that are not yet available</p>
<p>You can see a list of delayed forms here: [IRS</a> 2012 forms that 1040 filers can begin filing](<a href=“http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/List-of-IRS-forms-that-1040-filers-can-begin-filing-in-late-February-or-into-March-2013]IRS”>List of IRS forms that 1040 filers can begin filing in late February or into March 2013 | Internal Revenue Service)
Note that while they claim depreciation and amortization (4562) could be accepted as of 2/10 that has not been the experience in our office - they were still rejecting those returns as of late last week (I’m not in the office this week, so I can’t tell you if they’re being processed yet).</p>
<p>We filed ours on the 7th, and were able to link 6 days later - with backlog of returns with education credits, I wouldn’t be surprised if processing has slowed down.</p>
<p>Oh! Now I understand why mine will link, but the kid’s won"t. She owed self-employment tax.</p>
<p>@CTScoutmom & annoyingdad–Thanks for your help! Yes, I believe our From 4562 is the problem for the delay, so we won’t be able to e-file our return yet anyway; but as soon as we get our last 1099, we can send in the hard copy of our tax return to IDOC and then e-file as soon as the IRS starts accepting them. Since I already completed our FAFSA with estimates, it seems like I will have met the deadlines to the colleges. Then when the IRS accepts our tax return and processes it, I can use the IRS Retrieval Tool for the FAFSA. Am I missing anything in this thinking? Thanks so much for your help!</p>
<p>juniormom, Yes, as long as you did the fafsa already for your schools, it is considered “on time” as far as I understand it. The reason I wanted to get our corrections in asap was because our estimate was higher than the real figures so that would have a negative impact on any finaid packages being calculated without the updated information. </p>
<p>Also, because we were picked for verification, I had hopes that using the Data Retrieval Tool as soon as possible might head off some of the requests for information from individual colleges but now I just found out that usually those selected for verification are processed last by anyway since the colleges decide what to verify for themselves-grrr. </p>
<p>When you finish the efiling, depending on what program you use, there will be options of how to pay what you owe when you get to the last page. You can use a credit card but the vendors charge a fee and I wasn’t going to pay that so we opted for the withdraw from our bank account. The fee is a small percentage, like 4% of what you owe, and so it might be worth it for the ease in paying and for some people, it gives them more time to get the money together since now you don’t have to pay the tax until the credit card bill is due. </p>
<p>If you are going to have them debit your account, you can pick a date like CTScoutmom says but they won’t process your return until they get the money and then it again takes time after the payment is received to process it so you can finally use the data retrieval tool. Be warned though that if you pick “immediately” the IRS doesn’t fool around and will take the money out of your account right away even though it still takes over a week for the return to be processed. I don’t think you can have it come from a savings account because you have to enter the numbers from the bottom of your check to set up the withdraw but maybe someone else knows the answer to that? </p>
<p>Just another note about waiting for 1099s. Some people have reported that they were able to log into the different websites and print their own 1099s. If that ends up holding you up longer than the form 4562, it might be worth looking into.</p>
<p>Update: I had AOC so my taxes were submitted and accepted by the IRS on 2/14, it was processed (I had a refund) and I was able to use the FAFSA retrieval tool today, 2/24, so it took 10 days. I wasn’t able to check yesterday, so it may have been available a day sooner.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update, entomom.</p>
<p>Yes, you can have it come out of a savings account - the first set of numbers on a personal check is the routing number, which is bank specific. If you have both savings and checking at the same bank, use the routing number from the bottom of your check (except in a few situations, like Bank of America - see their website, because they use a different number), and then the account number for the specific account you want the withdrawal from. The same applies if you have a refund, which can also be split between several accounts (I think the limit is 8).</p>
<p>I’m an independent student, self employed (49 years old). Does anyone have any advice for me on the following: I estimated my FAFSA by the deadline, but I slightly overestimated my Adjusted Gross Income. I have now E-Filed my taxes, and I would like to quickly correct the FAFSA in case lowering my income slightly will increase the aid packages that I am offered by the schools currently considering my transfer application for fall. I still need to pay the tax I owe; I will do this in the next 3 days by check. Based on the postings on this forum, this may mean a delay in processing my return by the IRS, and hence a delay in the data retrieval tool being available to me. So advice on whether I should correct FAFSA right now to correctly reflect my filed tax return, and then go back later (in May?) to use the IRS data retrieval tool? Or just wait until the data retrieval tool is available to me to correct my income?</p>
<p>Correct your FAFSA now. Then when your taxes are fully processed, go back to the FAFSA and link them. It can be several days from when the IRS gets the money until you can link them.</p>
<p>Happykid’s tax check was mailed on the 15th as certified mail with return receipt. According to the USPS tracking system, it was received on the 20th. I couldn’t link it on the first, but was successful today.</p>
<p>Your mileage, of course, may vary.</p>