FAFSA asking for 2024 taxes I don't have yet - normal or error?
I'm helping my daughter fill out her FAFSA for the 2025-2026 school year, and we hit a weird snag. The application is asking for our 2024 tax information, but obviously we haven't filed 2024 taxes yet since it's not even tax season! Is this normal or did we miss something? The old FAFSA used to ask for prior-prior year taxes, but this new simplified one has me completely confused. Do we need to wait until we file our 2024 taxes to complete her application? Her school's priority deadline is coming up in 3 weeks and I'm getting worried we'll miss out on aid!
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Lauren Zeb
That's definitely not normal. The 2025-2026 FAFSA should be asking for your 2023 tax information (prior-prior year). There might be a glitch in the system or you might have selected the wrong academic year. Try logging out completely, clearing your browser cache, and starting over. Make sure you're selecting the correct application year at the beginning.
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Ryan Andre
•Thanks for the quick reply. I thought it was weird! I'll try clearing the cache and starting over. Do you know if selecting the wrong year at the beginning could cause this? I'm pretty sure we selected 2025-2026 but maybe we clicked something wrong.
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Daniel Washington
OMG the exact thing happened to me last week!!!!! I spent HOURS trying to figure out why it wanted 2024 taxes when I don't have them yet. Turns out I accidentally clicked on the wrong section somewhere. Had to start all over again. SO FRUSTRATING!!! The new FAFSA is supposed to be "simplified" but it's making me pull my hair out!!!!
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Ryan Andre
•It's so stressful! Did you figure out exactly where you went wrong? I'm worried about having to start completely over since we're already halfway through and my daughter entered all her personal information.
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Aurora Lacasse
Financial aid advisor here - this is definitely an error. The 2025-2026 FAFSA uses 2023 tax information (the year before the application year). You have a few options: 1. Start a new application and be careful to select 2025-2026 2. Go back to the income section and check if there's an option to correct the year 3. Continue with estimates (though not recommended) and correct later The new FAFSA has been plagued with technical issues, so this could also be a system glitch. Make sure you're using studentaid.gov directly and not a third-party site.
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Anthony Young
•yas this happened to me too! the entire thing crashed when i tried to go back and fix it. had to start over THREE TIMES. the website is trash this year
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Charlotte White
My daughter's in college now but when i was doing her first fafsa we had similar issues except it was asking for taxes from a future year lol. Try using a different browser sometimes that fixes weird glitches. Also if ur using chrome try firefox. good luck with application!!
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Ryan Andre
•Thank you! I'll try a different browser. We've been using Chrome so maybe Firefox will work better.
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Admin_Masters
Have you tried calling Federal Student Aid directly? I was having huge problems with verification documents and kept getting error messages when uploading my tax transcript. After weeks of frustration, I used Claimyr.com to get through to an agent - they got me past the automated system and I was able to talk to someone in under 20 minutes. The agent confirmed there's a glitch affecting some applications and helped me reset my application. There's a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ
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Ryan Andre
•I hadn't thought about calling them directly! I tried their general help number once last year and gave up after being on hold for 45 minutes. I'll check out that link - getting someone on the phone would definitely help clear this up. Thanks!
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Matthew Sanchez
The same thing happened to me last month!!! I swear the Dept of Education doesn't test anything before launching it. My solution was starting completely over (I know, super annoying) but making sure to be super careful about which academic year I selected. For some reason, even though I KNOW I picked 2025-2026 the first time, it was trying to use 2024 taxes. Second time worked fine though and it asked for 2023 taxes like normal.
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Aurora Lacasse
•This is becoming a common issue unfortunately. The Department of Education has acknowledged several bugs in the system. If you encounter this issue again, take screenshots of each step - this documentation can be helpful if you need to appeal any decisions later due to technical errors.
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Anthony Young
maybe u clicked the wrong year? or they might want estimated 2024 taxes if ur income changed a lot. my bros fafsa made him put estimates cuz he lost his job
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Lauren Zeb
•That's not quite how it works. The FAFSA uses 2023 taxes for the 2025-2026 application. If your income has changed significantly (job loss, etc.), you complete the FAFSA with the required 2023 information first, then contact each school's financial aid office to request a professional judgment review. They can then adjust your SAI based on your current situation.
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Ryan Andre
UPDATE: Thanks everyone for the help! I tried starting over in Firefox and carefully watched each screen. Turns out I had somehow selected the wrong academic year (still not sure how that happened). Now it's correctly asking for our 2023 tax information. We were able to finish the application and got our SAI score immediately! Wish they would make these options clearer - it's so easy to make a mistake that costs hours of time.
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Daniel Washington
•SO GLAD you got it figured out!!! The way they designed that first screen is SO confusing. They should make it IMPOSSIBLE to pick the wrong year!!
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Charlotte White
wait what is SAI? is that like the EFC? my daughter got her EFC score last yr but now im seeing SAI everywhere
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Aurora Lacasse
•Yes, SAI (Student Aid Index) replaced EFC (Expected Family Contribution) when the FAFSA was simplified. They're conceptually similar - both are numbers that colleges use to determine aid eligibility. The change was meant to clarify that the number doesn't necessarily represent what families will pay, just an index number for aid calculations. SAI can also go as low as -1500 (unlike EFC which bottomed at 0), potentially helping the neediest students qualify for more aid.
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Oscar O'Neil
This is such a relief to see resolved! I'm new to the FAFSA process (first kid heading to college) and this thread has been incredibly helpful. The fact that so many people had the same issue makes me feel better about potentially making mistakes myself. I'm bookmarking this thread for when I start our application next month. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and solutions - it really helps us newbies navigate this confusing system!
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