<p>I e filed my tax return on February 23 and was informed it was accepted on February 24th. I owed money so I sent the irs a check and it has been cashed. I have tried to use the irs retieval tool but it still does not work. I think my return has not yet been processed since I went on the irs website to try to order a tax transcript and when I tried to order one for 2011, it says it doesn't have one for me. Is it true that the irs is not going to process tax returns where money is owed (even though I have paid it and they have cashed my check) until after April 17th? I filed the fafsa on february 15th and indicated that I will file my taxes. I have left that designation of "will file" because I have been waiting for my return to be processed so I can link to the irs tool. I thought that was the best thing to do but since it is now getting to be the middle of March, I am getting worried that perhaps I should just change the designation to "have filed" my taxes and not use the irs tool. My numbers on the fafsa will not change since I had pretty much done my taxes before I filled out the fafsa but just hadn't e filed them. I am worried about schools to which my son has applied wanting to have an indication that our taxes have been done. Any advice and information would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Others that have owed money and sent it were eventually able to use the retrieval tool or order a transcript. I would say it could take up to 3 weeks AFTER they received the check. What date was it cashed?</p>
<p>I e-filed on Feb 2, the tax I owed was withdrawn from my bank account on Feb 7, and I was able to use the IRS retrieval on Feb 25.</p>
<p>It worked the first time I tried. Just lucky I guess.</p>
<p>I don’t know the exact date that my check was cashed since I do not do online banking but I know from a few withdrawals that I made last week that it had to have been cashed sometime between March 5th and March 8th. If it is going to take another 3 or so weeks for the irs to process my return and before I can use the irs retieval tool link, I am worried about waiting until the end of March to change my fafsa to “have filed” for the tax return question. Should I just go ahead and change my fafsa now to “have filed” without waiting on the processing?</p>
<p>You could do that and enter the amounts manually and reprocess but if the school requires the verification you will need to do it again once you can use the retrieval tool.</p>
<p>What I’m understanding from this is that the IRS won’t process your return until you have paid? I’m not scheduled to pay until the Friday before taxes are due and I haven’t been able to use the IRS data tool since I filed at the end of Febuary…</p>
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That is accurate and has been mentioned repeatedly in the following thread.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1268814-irs-data-retrieval-tool-fafsa.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1268814-irs-data-retrieval-tool-fafsa.html</a></p>
<p>There are also comments that the IRS has said it will process returns with refunds before balance due returns.</p>
<p>Regardless, the IRS does not process returns if you owe until you pay so you can expect that the retrieval or transcript will not be available for at least two to three weeks after that time. I filed my son’s in early February (6th) but he also owes and it will not be paid until the 13th (e-filed with automatic withdrawal). I try the transcript every day just for grins. ;)</p>