<p>My dd has to make her decision by May 1st to get her refundable deposits back. I did our taxes for this year when I filed the FASFA but I didn't file them because we owe and aren't in a position to pay for another week or so.</p>
<p>One of my dd's Universities wrote to her that they won't release FA package until we are able to use the IRS data retrieval tool. Well by the time we file our taxes and wait the three weeks to use the tool it will be past her decision deadline.</p>
<p>Has anyone ever had this happen? What can we do?</p>
<p>I’m a freshman at a university this year, and my school is doing the exact same thing. They won’t even look at my financial aid application until I use the DRT…it’s quite frustrating as my application will be put in the back of the line even though I submitted my FAFSA on 1/1 and my taxes on 2/1. Although I do not have any advice, I’m in a similar situation which doesn’t seem to be very fair.</p>
<p>I’m told that if you file electronically, that you can schedule the payment date for as late as April 15.</p>
<p>I recall something about if you file without paying, the IRS will send you a bill, and as long as you pay by April 15, there is no penalty. If you don’t get a bill, I would use a 1040-es (Jan 15, 2013) coupon when you send in your payment, or attach a copy of the 1040 you filed and say you forgot to enclose a check.</p>
<p>Remember, there are Failure to File penalties, and Failure to Pay penalties. Both are separate deadlines, and both are due April 15. Nothing says you have to do both (file and pay) at the same time.</p>
<p>Seriously, they won’t release the package for an incoming first-time-in-college freshman before the DRT? Wow. I can see it for returning students (they aren’t weighing options), but not for your situation.</p>
<p>The problem is that the data retrieval tool won’t work until 2-3 weeks after the return is processed by the IRS, and it won’t be processed until taxes are paid. I’ve seen this stated in many places, so we didn’t take chances and came up with the money to pay taxes early. In about 2 weeks, DRT worked.</p>
<p>octerdana, we have the same problem</p>
<p>yolochka, please tell me how early was your payment made </p>
<p>My S is also a first-time-college freshman and I posted this on several threads already:</p>
<p>E-filed on 2/6 without tax payment. I originally scheduled my tax payment to be withdrawn on 4/15 then cancelled and paid by check when I learned that I need to pay taxes before I could use the tool. Sent payment check on 2/26 which was cashed on 3/4. Called IRS last week and spoke to several reps who told me tax return will be processed after 4/15 and possibly not until May. This means I will not be able to use the DRT until May or June. My S financial aid priority deadline was 3/15. I checked again today and still couldn’t use the tool. Extremely concerned at this point.</p>
<p>Call the school. If you don’t qualify to use the tool then they should provide another option to submit filed returns.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why they are requiring IRS verification through the data tool for those of us who weren’t selected for verification. What is the point of using estimated numbers by the deadline if they aren’t going to accept them?</p>
<p>I send my check on Feb 1 and it was cashed in a few days. Then approximately 2 weeks later (a maybe closer to 3 weeks) DRT worked for me.</p>
<p>If you estimate your taxes and submit FAFSA before you file then financial aid numbers released to you are estimates until IRS verification is done. Then they confirm and notify you of any adjustments made due to the verification. For example, I estimated - but was off a little bit in my estimation. The schools will adjust for that.</p>
<p>Some schools won’t release even an estimated package until verification is done. I have a client who is stuck in this situation - it is institutional verification (her son found out they verify everyone), and they won’t release anything until it’s verified, in essence he’s put at the back of the line. The only saving grace is that many of his classmates have returns that were delayed due to the education credits.</p>
<p>We have this problem as well for my nephew who is a returning student (junior). I contacted the college via email (I wanted the response in writing) and they said to submit everything but the IRS data retrieval verification. They were already aware that students who owe money may not be able to use the data retrieval service until May or June, and they are not penalizing such students for not getting the IRS data retrieval verification in late. But, they won’t release his financial aid award until the data retrieval verification is in. So, my recommendation is definitely to contact the college.</p>
<p>Are schools doing this because too often they award aid, people make decisions, and then after numbers are verified or there are discrepencies, the aid has to be withdrawn?</p>