I am a bit confused on the “BIG changes/updates” that are supposedly taking place for the new FAFSA. It says that one of the new updates is supposed to be that the Federal tax information will be transferred directly from the IRS into FAFSA. Isn’t that the same as the DRT in the previous years? DRT was used to electronically transfer my federal tax return information into FAFSA - so what’s the difference??
@kelsmom can explain.
Yes and no. There will actually be more information transmitted from the IRS to the FAFSA with the new method, and it’s done a bit differently. For example , you won’t leave the FAFSA to go to the IRS site, log in there and decide whether or not to transfer the information … the approval to use the information has a different, more simplified process. The bottom line is that it used to be highly recommended but not required to transfer directly (unless you were selected for verification, and then the school would ask you to do the direct transfer). Now everyone will do it. Even people who didn’t file jointly in the base year will need to do the transfer - each person will be required to get an FSA ID & do a tax transfer (this was not possible in the past).
I honestly don’t think that the changes will have a huge effect on most people. Probably the biggest impact will be on families with more than one student in college, since the parent SAI will no longer be split between their students. I think a lot of lower income families will find that their federal aid increases.
Great, thanks!
So will we be able to see what is transferred with the new process? That’s the only reason I never used the DRT - way too type A to trust numbers I couldn’t see.
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No, you will not be able to see what was transferred. It comes directly from your tax return that you filed with the IRS, so it will match the records you have on file. And it will populate the correct information for the FAFSA questions, which frankly didn’t always happen when people filled out their own FAFSA. There are some follow up questions about your taxes, and it is important to pay attention to what is being asked so you can answer correctly. For example, there may be questions about whether you had a non taxable rollover, or whether the student’s taxable income included scholarships/grants (and if so, how much).
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