Independent Verification

Paying for College
1

<p>So, I've always wondered about this as I've been selected several times. Each time, I fill out a worksheet and provide a signed copy of my tax return. How is this even verified? From my understanding, the school looks at the student's fafsa and then compares that to the income provided on the signed copy of the tax return and if it's on, everything is good.</p>

<p>Ultimately, I'm curious if the school does any other kind of verification. All of my tax return copies have just been print offs of my turbotax efile pdfs, but what is to stop some other scumball from just getting as far as printing a pdf without filing? Does the school have access to the student's real tax returns through the IRS? I would assume they don't since they require a signed copy of the student's tax return. And if they could access the return through the IRS, that would be such a privacy issue.</p>

<p>Does anyone familiar with this know exactly how it works?</p>

2

<p>The IRS has understandably balked at allowing access to its files due to security issues. However, a deal was finally struck & now the parents/student can request to directly link to the IRS and dump their information into the FAFSA. </p>

<p>Beginning with the 2012-13 academic year, verification will be different than it has been in the past. The feds will select particular elements that must be verified - meaning what is chosen for you may be different than what is chosen for me. Those selected for verification of any tax return information will be required to do a direct link to the IRS for verification. This is going to be required, not optional.</p>

<p>I don’t know what schools that choose to collect all tax returns will do. The regulations only apply to the federal verification requirements.</p>