Verification. Agenda 3/1/2012

Transcription

1 Verification Presented by Kochie Vaughan, USA Funds Agenda Selection Process. equired Verification Items. Acceptable Documentation. IS Data etrieval ool. IS ax ranscripts. Verification olerance Option. Completing Verification. Interim Disbursements. Selection After Disbursements. Deadlines and Consequences. Verification and Conflicting Information. Policies and Procedures. Comparison of ax eturn and ax ranscript Data. 1

2 Selection Process ISI received with the verification flag set to Y. Notify student of required documentation. CPS selects application for verification. School selects application for verification. SA received with asterisk next to EFC indicating selection. Contact school for required documentation. School may request additional documentation. Complete verification using documentation submitted. Submit requested documentation. 1 Verification Exclusions Application: Student s death. Student is not a federal aid recipient. Student or parent is not eligible for need-based federal aid. Verified by another school. Parent information: Parent(s) unavailable. Spouse information: Spouse unavailable. 2 2

3 equired Verification Items for Items required for all applicants selected for verification: Household size. Number in college. Child support paid. * Food Stamps.* Yes Was or will a federal income tax return be filed? No Additional required items: AGI. Federal income taxes paid. Untaxed IA distributions. Untaxed pensions. Education credits. IA deductions. ax-exempt interest income. Additional required item: Income earned from work. 3 Agenda Selection Process. equired Verification Items. Acceptable Documentation. IS Data etrieval ool. IS ax ranscripts. Verification olerance Option. Completing Verification. Interim Disbursements. Selection After Disbursements. Deadlines and Consequences. Verification and Conflicting Information. Policies and Procedures. Comparison of ax eturn and ax ranscript Data. 3

4 Acceptable Documentation All Applicants Selected for Verification All applicants: Household size. Number in college. Child support paid. Food Stamps. 4 Acceptable Documentation ax Filers Without Special Circumstances herefore, the Department expects the institution to require the applicant, and if necessary the applicant's parents, to provide an official IS transcript of their Federal income tax information. GEN

5 Acceptable Documentation ax Filers Without Special Circumstances Applicants able to retrieve IS data who choose not to do so: May be selected for verification. If selected, must provide documentation obtained from the IS. Documentation priority order: 1. Unaltered IS data. 2. IS tax transcript. 3. IS income tax return. 5 Acceptable Documentation ax Filers Without Special Circumstances ax-filers without special circumstances: AGI. U.S. tax paid. Untaxed IA distributions. Untaxed pensions. Education credits. IA deductions. ax-exempt interest. IS Data etrieved and unaltered. Not retrieved. etrieved, but changed. May be inaccurate. Documentation None required. ax transcript. ax transcript. ax transcript. 5 5

6 Acceptable Documentation ax Filers with Special Circumstances ax filers with special circumstances. Filed a joint return: Separated, divorced, widowed or remarried. Granted a filing extension. Cannot obtain an IS tax transcript. 6-8 Acceptable Documentation ax Filers with Special Circumstances ax filers filing jointly and are separated, divorced, widowed or remarried. Documentation: ax transcript. W-2 Form(s) if joint-filer no longer is married to individual on the return

7 Acceptable Documentation ax Filers with Special Circumstances ax filers granted an extension to file. Documentation: Copy of IS Form 4868 or approval of extension longer than six months. Documentation of income: Copy of W-2 Form(s) O Signed statement selfcertifying AGI and taxes paid, if self-employed. Schools will have option of collecting tax data once return is filed. When data is received, AGI and taxes paid must be re-verified. 6-7 Acceptable Documentation ax Filers with Special Circumstances ax filers unable to obtain a tax transcript. IS, U.S. territory or commonwealth or foreign country cannot provide the requested data. Documentation: Copy of W-2 Form(s). Signed statement selfcertifying AGI and taxes paid. 6, 8 7

8 Acceptable Documentation Non-ax Filers Non-tax filers. Income earned from work. Documentation: Signed statement certifying applicant did not file and is not required to file. Sources and amounts of income earned. Copy of W-2 Form(s). If not available, a signed statement explaining the reason a W-2 Form is not available. 8 Agenda Selection Process. equired Verification Items. Acceptable Documentation. IS Data etrieval ool. IS ax ranscripts. Verification olerance Option. Completing Verification. Interim Disbursements. Selection After Disbursements. Deadlines and Consequences. Verification and Conflicting Information. Policies and Procedures. Comparison of ax eturn and ax ranscript Data. 8

9 IS Data etrieval ool New Filtering Question for IS Data etrieval ool FAFSA Question Numbers FAFSA ax eturn Information Question Numbers Student Parent ype of ax eturn Filed Adjusted Gross Income Income ax IS Exemptions Education Credits 43a 91a IA Deductions and Payments 44b 92b ax-exempt Interest Income 44d 92d Untaxed IA Distributions 44e 92e Untaxed Pensions 44f 92f 9 9

10 IS Data etrieval ool ransferred Data 13 IS Data etrieval ool Identifying Unaltered IS Data IS equest Flag Values Indicate on ISI if and how IS data was used

11 IS Data etrieval ool IS equest Flags Code Blank Description IS Data etrieval ool not available in the application method utilized by the student (for example, paper FAFSA, EDE or FAA Access to CPS Online). Not eligible to use the IS Data etrieval ool and was therefore not presented with the option to use it in FAFSA on the Web. Presented with the option to use the IS Data etrieval ool in FAFSA on the Web and elected to use it, but did not transfer IS data into the FAFSA. IS data was transferred from the IS and was not changed by the user prior to submission of an application or correction. 14 IS Data etrieval ool IS equest Flags Code 03 Description IS data was transferred from the IS and changed by the user prior to submission of an application or correction. 04 IS data was transferred from the IS and then changed by the user on a subsequent transaction Presented with the option to use the IS Data etrieval ool in FAFSA on the Web, but did not elect to use it. IS data was transferred from the IS, but a subsequent change made him or her ineligible to use the IS Data etrieval ool

12 IS Data etrieval ool Challenges with IS Data etrieval ecently-filed tax returns. ax returns not yet filed. Amended tax returns. Mismatched identifying information. Mismatched marital status. ollovers. Foreign income tax returns. Paper FAFSAs IS Data etrieval ool Challenges with IS Data etrieval ecently-filed tax returns. ax returns not yet filed. Amended tax returns. Mismatched identifying information. Mismatched marital status. ollovers. Foreign income tax returns. Paper FAFSAs

13 IS Data etrieval ool Challenges with IS Data etrieval - ollovers Untaxed Pensions he IS information shown is the untaxed portion of your pension. If that amount includes rollovers, o subtract any rollover amounts before entering the answer on the FAFSA. 18 Agenda Selection Process. equired Verification Items. Acceptable Documentation. IS Data etrieval ool. IS ax ranscripts. Verification olerance Option. Completing Verification. Interim Disbursements. Selection After Disbursements. Deadlines and Consequences. Verification and Conflicting Information. Policies and Procedures. Comparison of ax eturn and ax ranscript Data. 13

14 IS ax ranscripts wo types available: ax eturn ranscript. ax Account ranscript IS ax ranscripts equesting ax ranscripts equest Method Where? ax ranscript Output Document What? How? When? Direct to hird Party? Online Paper Mailed 5-10 days No elephone (800) Paper Mailed 5-10 days No IS Form 4506-EZ irs-pdf/f4506tez.pdf Paper Mailed 5-10 days Yes

15 IS ax ranscripts Signature equirements equires at tleast one signature Signature encouraged, but not required. 24 Documentation Errors Collecting tax documentation up-front. Failing to obtain tax documents from both parents. When required. Failing to obtain tax returns from student s spouse. Accepting documentation from non-custodial parent

16 Agenda Selection Process. equired Verification Items. Acceptable Documentation. IS Data etrieval ool. IS ax ranscripts. Verification olerance Option. Completing Verification. Interim Disbursements. Selection After Disbursements. Deadlines and Consequences. Verification and Conflicting Information. Policies and Procedures. Comparison of ax eturn and ax ranscript Data. Verification olerance Option May exercise if no non-dollar items must be changed. Household size. Number in college. $25 tolerance allowed. Per item, not total

17 Completing Verification Disbursing aid. Corrections to CPS: equired for all students eligible for subsidized student financial assistance programs. Encouraged, but not required, for students eligible for only unsubsidized student financial assistance programs. 26 Interim Disbursements Interim disbursements may be made Prior to completing verification After completing verification * If he school believes the applicants information is accurate. he school has not yet received the corrected SA/ISI And N/A he school believes the changes will not affect the applicant s aid eligibility. Schools are liable for any payments made if: Verification remains incomplete by the school s deadline O Overpayments result from verification

18 Selection After Disbursement No further disbursements allowed. Student liable for funds received. Except Stafford and FWS funds received. 27 Deadlines and Consequences Schools must establish a verification document deadline. Pell grant recipients: Allowed to submit documents until Federal egister deadline. All other aid recipients: School-determined date. Documents not received: No disbursements. epay interim disbursements. Disbursements prior to verification subject to overpayment rules

19 Agenda Selection Process. equired Verification Items. Acceptable Documentation. IS Data etrieval ool. IS ax ranscripts. Verification olerance Option. Completing Verification. Interim Disbursements. Selection After Disbursements. Deadlines and Consequences. Verification and Conflicting Information. Policies and Procedures. Comparison of ax eturn and ax ranscript Data. Verification vs. Conflicting Information equired for: Items to review: Conflicting Information All students. Any information provided on FAFSA or used to calculate student s EFC or eligibility for financial aid. Verification Students selected by CPS or school. Items identified annually in the Federal egister.. How to resolve: olerance (optional): None. Collect documentation, recalculate EFC and submit corrections to CPS, as appropriate. $25 per-item for dollar-related items, if no non-dollar-related items need to be changed. Disbursing aid: No disbursements allowed until conflicting information resolved. Interim disbursements may be made

20 Verification vs. Conflicting Information rainer s idbit 34 CF (a)(2). If an institution has reason to believe that an applicant s FAFSA information is inaccurate, it must verify the accuracy of that information. 29 Verification vs. Conflicting Information ax Data Fundamental understanding of certain tax issues. Whether a person was required to file a tax return. What the correct filing status for a person should be. An individual id cannot be claimed as an exemption by more than one person

21 Policies and Procedures Item Documents needed. Deadlines. Consequences. Award changes. Correction procedures. eferring overpayments. Include in P&Ps Provide to Student Examples Use of IS Data etrieval process, federal income tax transcripts, signed statements, W-2s, etc. School will use date published in Federal egister or a school established deadline.* Student may be liable for previously disbursed aid and/or may have loss of aid eligibility for the period. School will send revised award notification within two weeks of verification completion. School will make necessary corrections based on documentation received. School will comply with existing overpayment policies and procedures. 30 Agenda Selection Process. equired Verification Items. Acceptable Documentation. IS Data etrieval ool. IS ax ranscripts. Verification olerance Option. Completing Verification. Interim Disbursements. Selection After Disbursements. Deadlines and Consequences. Verification and Conflicting Information. Policies and Procedures. Comparison of ax eturn and ax ranscript Data. 21

22 Comparison of Documentation Sam Lee: IS Form 1040-EZ. ax transcript. Cam Larson: IS Form 1040A. ax transcript. Lyle and Jennifer Lee: IS Form ax transcript Comparison of Documentation Sam 1040EZ E U N 32 A N S C I P 34 22

23 Comparison of Documentation Sam 1040EZ E U N 32 A N S C I P 34 Comparison of Documentation Cam 1040A E U N 36 A N S C I P 38 23

24 Comparison of Documentation Cam 1040A E U N 36 A N S C I P 39 Comparison of Documentation Lyle and Jennifer E U N 42 A N S C I P 45 24

25 Agenda Selection Process. equired Verification Items. Acceptable Documentation. IS Data etrieval ool. IS ax ranscripts. Verification olerance Option. Completing Verification. Interim Disbursements. Selection After Disbursements. Deadlines and Consequences. Verification and Conflicting Information. Policies and Procedures. Comparison of ax eturn and ax ranscript Data. 25