<p>^^ I had the same message yesterday and this morning. However, when I tried last time, it was retrieved successfully. Keep trying :-)</p>
<p>Dad, have you checked “Where’s my refund” for a status? I forget what info the DRT asks for before linking but I believe the error message is just saying be sure what you entered matches your return.</p>
<p>^^ Yes it works now, I completely get out of FAFSA and login back again and choose start a FAFSA, then i was able to link to IRS and IRS showed me the TAX info and I was able to Transfer it successfully to the FAFSA.
Actually what i entered manually was same as IRS Transfer info. :-)</p>
<p>You started a new fafsa? That doesn’t seem right.</p>
<p>@annoyingdad</p>
<p>Yes I did check my “Wheres my refund” it says “Your tax return is still being processed.
A refund date will be provided when available”.</p>
<p>its not a New Fafsa, but correcting the old Fafsa with latest info…</p>
<p>When you chose start a new fafsa it probably recognized you already had one and took you to update mode.</p>
<p>We completed the FAFSA last night. When we tried to use the Data Retrieval Tool it found us, but was not able to retrieve the information from IRS. IRS had accepted our return on 1/29. We just put in the numbers from our tax return, and submitted it to FAFSA. Is it a problem that we did not wait until the link was completed?</p>
<p>No, it’s not a problem that you manually entered the info. If you are selected for verification you can still use the tool later. Most likely your return isn’t far enough along in processing for the tool to have worked yet.</p>
<p>@Boise1 Try few times, Initially I had problem but then it shows the info.</p>
<p>If you put the numbers manually they are OK but If you pull the numbers from the Tool then most of the time you dont need to send the school hard copies of your TAX return. Schools trust the info from the Tool. </p>
<p>Thank you so much. This is all new to us, and sometimes it seems like there are a LOT of moving parts.</p>
<p>I just talk to a FA person in a School and she told me so far you used the TOOL they wont ask me to send in any TAX documents. So I personally think TOOL is the way to go even we manually enter the info we can always used the TOOL later to update the same info and it changes each BOX on the form that done by TOOL.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, the IRS data retrieval tool worked for D’s 1040EZ (efiled via Turbotaxand accepted on 1/30) but it still does NOT work for parents’ 1040 (also efiled via Turbotax, way back on 1/1, and accepted by the IRS on 1/28). Frustrating! I wonder why one is working and not the other?</p>
<p>More complex returns take longer to process? You didn’t owe money with your return, did you?</p>
<p>@staceyneil Just keep checking maybe by tomorrow you can get yours, may be IRS still working on yours.</p>
<p>Just want to add that my understanding is you cannot use the data retrieval tool if you owe money. I filed today, and while I normally would have paid the amount owed in April, I went ahead and paid it now, so that I will be able to use the retrieval tool later this month.</p>
<p>You can use the tool if you owe money, but it won’t be available to you until after payment is made.</p>
<p>Oh well that totally explains it! Thank you! We do owe money. Is that also why we can’t use the IRS “request transcript” tool? I’ll mail the check today, anyone know how long it takes from the time they receive the payment until the tool works?</p>
<p>My son owed a couple years ago and when we found out payment needed to be made before the DRT would be available it took about 10 days after we mailed the check. That was about the same point in the filing season. Yes, it’s why you can’t order a transcript either, they are both dependent on the return being fully processed.</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>As I understand it, all of the questions have to answered “No” for the retrieval to work. Is that correct?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>