NASFAA Urges IRS-DRT Enhancements in 2016-17 Draft FAFSA Comments

Mandy Sponholtz, Policy & Federal Relations Staff

Yesterday, NASFAA submitted comments to the Department of Education suggesting ways to improve the FAFSA filing process for the 2016-17 award year. The comments focus specifically on ways to enhance the Internal Revenue Service Data Retrieval Tool (IRS-DRT), which will facilitate the use of prior-prior year income information for the upcoming 2017-18 award year.  

NASFAA encouraged the Department to collaborate further with the IRS to:

  • Allow more applicants to use the IRS-DRT, such as students and parents who file separate returns.
  • Use the IRS-DRT to confirm whether an applicant filed a tax return, rather than forcing the student to provide documentation proving non-filing to the financial aid office.
  • Provide leniency to the IRS-DRT authentication process, especially with respect to requiring the exact address used on the tax return.
  • Expand the IRS-DRT to allow the applicant to import all relevant line items from tax returns and W-2s.

We also pointed out that one week of lead time to publish the FAFSA Demo Site is insufficient, asked ED to provide PPY information for students and families via www.studentaid.gov, and requested for the second year an overhaul of the Student Aid Report.

 

Publication Date: 10/14/2015

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