<p>I completed our taxes last week, but the latest message I'm getting is that they won't be processed by the IRS until late February to mid-March because of the depreciation and amortization and the education credits. It's a shame because I liked the IRS data retrieval tool for my college junior last year. Oh well, I just filled out FAFSA the old fashioned way and checked submitted. I have submitted...the IRS just has it sitting in a queue :-) I wonder if the colleges will have to do audits the old fashioned way this year for my soon to be freshman? I'm assuming for my senior son, I'll just finish his, mark will file and wait until March and update his FAFSA using the retrieval tool. It's a bummer it is all happening this year when I have a soon to be freshman.</p>
<p>I was thinking about the same thing. I was hoping to get my taxes done/submitted this weekend and then update the FAFSA based on my official taxes. Now, things will be delayed and guessing this will gum things up for plenty of people/schools this year.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s not all that difficult to fill out the FAFSA, but it was a handy thing to be able to use the data retrieval tool. Last year was the first year they had it and now this year many will not be able to use it that have fall freshman since the freshman deadlines are so very early. Now I just need to revise 2 Profile colleges and send Profile to the remaining coleges but those deadlines are also before my taxes will exit the queue. I’m assuming that I won’t be able to get Tax receipts either for any college that might want those before March.</p>
<p>It is a problem, isn’t it? Both of our kids were tagged for verification for the first time this year, although it appears that what they REALLY want is to use the IRS retrieval tool. But, we parents are in the same situation, returns won’t be processed until at least middle of the month, if not later. Now that we have all submitted the returns, we’ll be changing from the “will file” status on the FAFSAs, but only the kids will be able to use the retrieval tool fairly soon. I’m wondering how the schools are going to handle verification if so many can’t use the retrieval tool because of the education credit form delay.</p>
<p>I have concerns that this may put many deserving kids at the back of the FA line even if they submitted FAFSAs early and well before the school’s priority deadline. I’m not sure how submission dates are affected, but our school states on the FA website that they input the date that the verification information was received. although I’m not clear on how that is used. If you can’t verify because of the IRS delay, then what does that do to the kids who were on the ball and submitted early?</p>
<p>Crazy IRS >:-(</p>
<p>It’s not the IRS, it’s congress, the details of the fiscal cliff negotiations and the AMT patch delay.</p>
<p>True, I understand that, considering that in my job I have to daily explain to many angry people why they don’t have access to printed forms yet. However, I do wish the IRS would sometimes be a little quicker, but I know they are in a tight spot, too. There were delays last year, too. I guess I wish they would see it coming and start preparations, even if a guess…but maybe they did or maybe that’s impossible.</p>
<p>So, crazy Congress, cliff, and everything that goes along with it :)</p>
<p>If it was as simple as yes or no for the AMT patch, they could have prepared both ways. There were a million different combinations of ways the rest of it could have gone.</p>
<p>I wonder if the colleges will have to do audits the old fashioned way this year for my soon to be freshman?</p>
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<p>It’s no longer allowed. Schools cannot decide to verify based on tax returns anymore … families must either use the DRT or send a tax transcript. Either way, the return has to be processed by the IRS first. Schools have to wait. They will package freshmen based on estimates using the FAFSA, then adjust if necessary after verification is complete.</p>
<p>That’s unfortunate for the colleges because if the IRS won’t process until late February or early March according to what I’m being told and it will be end of March at the earliest that you could go back into your FAFSA and bring in the tax info using the tool to verify you told the truth… it will ‘back up’ into the middle of the busiest season for finaid offices. Meanwhile all the e-filers with anything but a simplist tax situation just sit in a queue waiting. Gotta love our government waiting until the very last moment to do anything.</p>
<p>I am unable to file my personal return at all because my business return can’t be completed, IRS has not yet released the forms. 
Now they are saying late Feb or March before they can process them (and no telling when they will actually be released). I think I need to contact some of D’s colleges to discuss.</p>