Online IRS Tax Transcripts Shut Down due to Identity Theft

The IRS has suspended on-line tax transcripts because there were a large number of fraudulent downloads. This may be an issue for students (and their parents) selected for verification if they aren’t able to use the Data Retrieval Tool.

Not sure how the Department of Education and college financial aid offices will handle this. Tax Transcripts by mail will still be available, but they aren’t quick.

One of my Neices did it over the phone and put in her I parents infoation using touch tone. She got her transcript in approximately 5 days. I gave my students the form to mail in in mud April in the event that there parents were having problems with the on line. Fortunately most of the ones who did the mail in got their transcripts back already. It took about 2 weeks

There are walk-in IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center locations around the country, and in a pinch a parent could go there and request the tax transcripts in person. http://www.irs.gov/uac/Contact-Your-Local-IRS-Office-1

I use the Data Retrieval Tool to fill in the FAFSA plus I send my Tax Returns doc to the school also. I just get a notice that they need Parents 2014 Tax Return Transcript and it was due 4/15. I went to online and see that online link is down. So I don’t understand why they asking me again when they must have the FAFSA with them.
Isn’t that enough…

No, you must send the transcript. You’ll need to order it and they’ll mail it to you, and then you’ll mail it to the school.

One daughter’s school accepted a signed copy of my tax return last year, the other school insisted on the tax transcript.

Thats very strange, they accepted it last year when son got admitted. This year they accepted it but now asking for more. I will call them tomorrow to make sure what they really need. If they do need the official transcript from IRS then i will just walk into their local office and get a printout or ask them to email me.

This was due 4/15 and they are waking up now, FA suppose to be announced in few days as I was told few months back…

dad42014, if you used the IRS DRT, you will typically not be asked to provide a tax transcript. However, if you made any changes to any of the information that was sent to your FAFSA in the DRT process, you WILL be asked to provide the tax transcript - schools get a code that tells them if the info was transferred via DRT and if so, whether or not it was altered after being transferred.

If you used the DRT but didn’t make any changes, I suggest calling the school to find out why a transcript was requested.

^^ I did called the School and they told me the Tax Return I send them was good enough and they dont need anything else. I never change anything in my FAFSA due to DRT. Looks to me they misplace the original copies I send them in Feb and they just find out they need those to confirm the numbers.