"… College admissions officers and high school guidance counselors say everyone who plans to attend college should fill out the FAFSA as soon as they’re able, regardless of whether they think they’ll qualify for need-based aid.
But there are several issues that could trip up students and their families when filling out the 2018-2019 FAFSA form.
In March, the IRS shut down an online data retrieval tool that allowed students and their families to transfer income information and related data from their tax records directly to the FAFSA form. The tool was a valuable time saver, and also helped reduce errors that occur when students have to input information by hand.
But identity thieves used the IRS data retrieval tool to access the tax records of about 100,000 people. Two men were indicted in June for allegedly using stolen identities to file 8,000 bogus tax returns that triggered $12 million in fraudulent refunds." …
The article states: That means students and their families won’t be able to make any corrections to information that’s transferred to the FAFSA form from the IRS data retrieval tool.
Well, considering that you are not supposed to make any corrections, that is a good thing. Aid offices received a code that indicated if the info had been changed, and if it had, they needed to collect a tax transcript so they could reset the info to that which was originally imported via the DRT.
I realize it’s unsettling to be flying blind … the info is retrieved & you can’t see it. But it’s the same info that you put on your tax return, so there’s that. You could not use the DRT before in the first two instances cited as being problematic - the instructions did and will continue to list circumstances in which you cannot use the DRT. Read the instructions is the moral here. And the IRA/pension rollover was always an issue with the DRT - now you will be asked if you had a rollover & if you say yes, you will be asked the amount, which is an improvement.
I wish articles about the new security measures wouldn’t make it sound like it’s bad for those completing the FAFSA.
Every organization claims to be taking the strongest measures to safeguard personal information, right up to the point where they learn that they’ve been hacked. Believing it when you’re told “don’t worry, your information is safe with us” is setting yourself up for disappointment. The best thing anyone can do right now is be proactive and put a freeze on their credit file with each of the reporting agencies. If your information isn’t out there already, it’s only a matter of time.
Oh I did the freezes @BelknapPoint . But I can’t file my taxes on Jan 2, I have to wait at least until mid-Feb. And with this breach, it’s possible someone will try to file before that…if not this year, maybe next, or the one after…
I hear you. The IRS does drive me crazy. The IRS gets the W-2s from the employers. How hard would it be to check the information entered on a return against the W-2 associated with the SSN, before accepting a bogus return and sending a “refund” to the identity thief? Well, I guess it’s just too hard…