For many there is an urgency to filing your 2015 tax return this year. That urgency is being prompted by your child/college bound student needing to finalize their FAFSA.
If you were one of the early FAFSA filers, good for you! However, that means you more than likely had to estimate your FAFSA financials and that means that now may be the time to return to your FAFSA and finalize it.
The easiest way to update your tax information is by using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (IRS DRT). It allows you to directly transfer your tax information into your FAFSA.
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You generally have to wait about 2 weeks after filing your taxes before you can use the IRS DRT but this tool can save you time, earn you accuracy points and lessen your chance of being called in for "verification." There are instances where the IRS DRT tool will not be available for you to use e.g., filers as Head of Household; Married filing Separately.
Verification is the Department of Education equivalent of being audited and impacts approximately 30% of FAFSA filers. It is managed by the college's Financial Aid office.
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Having finalized your financials using the IRS DRT you will receive an updated Student Aid Report in approximately 3 days showing the changes that were made to your FAFSA application.
While you are logged in, now would be a good time to confirm that the schools you are applying to are listed to receive your updated information.