FAFSA Spouse Contributor disappeared after Parent Contributor invitation - joint tax return issue?

Yep, this happened to me too! If you file jointly, the system now only requires the primary parent to complete everything. It's a change with the new FAFSA. The spouse still needs to provide their FSA ID to the primary parent for verification purposes, but they don't need to separately fill out the contributor section.

The disappearing spouse contributor is actually working as designed in the new FAFSA system. For joint tax filers, only one parent needs to complete the contributor section. When you both received invitations, the system recognized you were joint filers after the primary parent accepted, and automatically removed the spouse invitation. Your wife will still need to provide her FSA ID for identity verification, but this happens during the primary parent's section.

just to add another voice to this - my hubby and me got same thing hapenning. only i (mom) needed to fill everything out even tho we file together. when i got to the 'tax information' section it asked for his FSA ID to verify but he didnt need to do a whole separate contributor thing.

This happened to me last month too. The StudentAid.gov website is SO BUGGY, I thought I messed something up! But when I called FAFSA, they explained that for joint filers, only the primary parent completes the contributor section. But you need BOTH parents' FSA IDs for the tax section. If your spouse doesn't have an FSA ID yet, they need to create one ASAP.

I was having the exact same issue last week and went crazy trying to find a way to re-add my husband. Turns out it's not a glitch. During the primary parent contributor section, you'll reach a point where it asks about your tax filing status. When you select "Married Filing Jointly," it will prompt you to enter your spouse's FSA ID to electronically verify the tax information. Your wife needs to create an FSA ID if she doesn't have one already, but she doesn't need to complete a separate contributor section.

This is actually a feature of the new streamlined FAFSA process, not a bug. For married couples filing jointly, only one parent completes the contributor section and electronically signs for both. That parent will need both FSA IDs when they reach the IRS Data Retrieval Tool section. The system is designed to reduce duplicate information for households with joint tax returns. If you're still having trouble accessing federal student aid representatives by phone, I recently used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an agent in minutes instead of hours. They have a video showing how it works at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. Saved me a ton of frustration when I needed to verify some information on my daughter's application.

UGGGGHH THE NEW FAFSA IS THE WORST!!!!!! Nobody knows what's going on, the instructions are garbage, and the website keeps crashing. For what it's worth, I had the EXACT same issue with my husband disappearing from contributors. After three attempts calling and hanging up, I finally got through to someone who explained this is normal. The primary parent handles everything for joint filers. But be careful - make sure your wife creates her own FSA ID if she doesn't have one. They won't let you create it for her (learned that the hard way).

One more thing to mention - when you reach the tax information section and need to enter your spouse's FSA ID, make sure she's available. She'll need to receive and enter a verification code sent to her email or phone. My husband was at work when I reached that point and it created a whole mess because the system times out if you wait too long.

hey did u ever get this worked out? im having the same issue now with my stepson's application and getting super frustrated!!!

I just went through this exact same situation with my daughter's FAFSA last week! The disappearing spouse contributor had me panicking that I'd somehow broken the application. It's definitely confusing because the initial setup makes it seem like both parents need separate contributor sections, but then the spouse just vanishes. The streamlined process for joint filers actually makes sense once you understand it, but they really need to update the instructions to be clearer about this. One tip - make sure you have your wife's FSA ID handy when you start the tax section because you'll need it for the IRS Data Retrieval Tool verification. Good luck with the rest of the application!