How to add parent tax information to FAFSA after initial submission?

This happened to me too! The system is SO confusing. For us, we had to go into the correction section, and then there was a specific section called 'Parent Financial Information' where we could either manually enter the tax info OR use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. The DRT button wasn't obvious though - it was like a small link that said 'Transfer Tax Information' or something similar. Much easier than typing everything manually!

There are two ways to add tax information during FAFSA corrections: 1. IRS Data Retrieval Tool (recommended): In the correction section, navigate to 'Parent Financial Information' and look for the 'Link to IRS' option. Your mother will need her FSA ID, exact name as shown on tax return, filing status, address, and SSN ready. This automatically transfers all tax data directly from the IRS. 2. Manual entry: If DRT isn't working, you can manually enter tax information from her 1040 form in the same 'Parent Financial Information' section. Important: Your mother MUST have her own FSA ID to use either method for corrections. The parent who is providing information must be the one to sign with their FSA ID.

I went through this exact situation with my daughter's FAFSA. The system sometimes glitches and doesn't show the tax transfer option initially. Here's what worked for us: 1. Login to studentaid.gov using the STUDENT'S account (not parent) 2. Select 'Correct FAFSA form' 3. Navigate to the 'Parent Information' section 4. Look specifically for 'Parent Financial Information' 5. There should be a 'Link to IRS' button If you don't see the IRS link button, try using a different browser or clearing your cache. Safari in particular has issues with the FAFSA site sometimes.

when I had this problem I kept calling the FAFSA number and no one ever picked up!!! I must have tried like 20 times. Then my cousins friend told me about this service called Claimyr that got me through to an actual human at the FAFSA helpline in like 3 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ and their site is claimyr.com. Saved me hours of frustration and the FSA agent walked me through exactly where to click to add the tax stuff.

So MANY parents struggle with this exact issue! The FAFSA system is SO poorly designed. Here are the common problems: 1. The parent MUST have their OWN FSA ID - not just using the student's 2. The FAFSA system sometimes has a 1-3 day delay between when you create an FSA ID and when you can use the IRS DRT 3. If mom's name, DOB, SSN, or address don't EXACTLY match her tax return, the DRT will fail without telling you why 4. Some browsers (especially older versions) don't display the DRT link correctly My suggestion: Give it 48 hours from when she created her FSA ID, then try again using Chrome or Firefox in incognito mode. And TRIPLE CHECK that all her info exactly matches her tax return. Even a tiny difference like using "Street" vs "St" can cause problems!

UPDATE: We finally got it working! For anyone else with this problem, here's what we had to do: 1. Mom had to update her FSA ID because her email address had changed 2. We waited 24 hours for the update to process 3. Logged in through MY student account 4. Selected 'Make FAFSA Corrections' 5. Navigated to 'Parent Financial Information' 6. Found the 'TRANSFER TAX INFORMATION' button (it was easy to miss!) 7. Mom entered her FSA ID and other verification info The IRS Data Retrieval Tool pulled everything in automatically! No manual typing needed. Our SAI score updated within 3 days after submission. Thanks everyone for your help!!

dont forget that even after you fix this you gotta make sure the colleges actually RECEIVE the updated info. my school said they never got my corrected fafsa even tho the site said it was processed. had to call financial aid office directly and have them manually pull it. whole system is broken imo

Just wanted to add another tip for anyone still struggling with this - if you're getting error messages when trying to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, check if your parent filed their taxes as "Married Filing Separately" vs "Married Filing Jointly". The FAFSA sometimes gets confused about which parent's tax info to pull if the filing status doesn't match what you selected in the original application. We had to go back and correct the filing status first before the DRT would work properly. Also, make sure you're doing this during IRS business hours (they have maintenance windows that can block the tool from working).