# Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) Information To Be Verified for the 2020-2021 Award Year
**AGENCY:**
Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education.
[CFDA Numbers: 84.007, 84.033, 84.063, and 84.268.]
**ACTION:**
Notice.
**SUMMARY:**
For each award year, the Secretary publishes in the *Federal Register* a notice announcing the FAFSA information that an institution and an applicant may be required to verify, as well as the acceptable documentation for verifying FAFSA information. This is the notice for the 2020-2021 award year.
**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:**
Jacquelyn C. Butler, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 294-10, Washington, DC 20202. Telephone: (202) 453-6088.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-800-877-8339.
Individuals with disabilities can obtain this document in an accessible format ( *e.g.,* braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the program contact person listed under *FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT* .
**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:**
If the Secretary selects an applicant for verification, the applicant's Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) includes flags that indicate (1) that the applicant has been selected by the Secretary for verification and (2) the Verification Tracking Group in which the applicant has been placed. The Verification Tracking Group indicates which FAFSA information needs to be verified for the applicant and, if appropriate, for the applicant's parent(s) or spouse. The Student Aid Report (SAR) provided to the applicant will indicate that the applicant's FAFSA information has been selected for verification and direct the applicant to contact the institution for further instructions for completing the verification process.
The following chart lists, for the 2020-2021 award year, the FAFSA information that an institution and an applicant and, if appropriate, the applicant's parent(s) or spouse may be required to verify under 34 CFR 668.56. The chart also lists the acceptable documentation that must, under § 668.57, be provided to an institution for that information to be verified.
| FAFSA information | Acceptable documentation |
| --- | --- |
| | (1) 2018 tax account information of the tax filer that the Secretary has identified as having been obtained from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) through the IRS Data Retrieval Tool and that has not been changed after the information was obtained from the IRS; |
| | (1) For a student, or the parent(s) of a dependent student, who filed a 2018 joint income tax return and whose income is used in the calculation of the applicant's expected family contribution and who at the time the FAFSA was completed was separated, divorced, widowed, or married to someone other than the individual included on the 2018 joint income tax return— |
| | (2) For an individual who is required to file a 2018 IRS income tax return and has been granted a filing extension by the IRS beyond the automatic six-month extension for tax year 2018— |
| | (3) For an individual who was the victim of IRS tax-related identity theft— |
| | (4) For an individual who filed an amended income tax return with the IRS, a signed copy of the IRS Form 1040X that was filed with the IRS for tax year 2018 or documentation from the IRS that include the change(s) made to the tax filer's 2018 tax information, in addition to one of the following— |
| | For an individual who has not filed and, under IRS or other relevant tax authority rules (
the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, a U.S. territory or commonwealth or a foreign government), is not required to file a 2018 income tax return— |
| | (1) A signed statement certifying— |
| | (2) A copy of IRS Form W-2
for each source of 2018 employment income received or an equivalent document
; and |
| | (3) Except for dependent students, verification of nonfiling
from the IRS or other relevant tax authority dated on or after October 1, 2019. |
| Number of Household Members | A statement signed by the applicant and, if the applicant is a dependent student, by one of the applicant's parents, that lists the name and age of each household member for the 2020-2021 award year and the relationship of that household member to the applicant. |
| | Verification of number of household members is not required if— |
| Number in College | (1) A statement signed by the applicant and, if the applicant is a dependent student, by one of the applicant's parents listing the name and age of each household member, excluding the parents, who is or will be attending an eligible postsecondary educational institution as at least a half-time student in the 2020-2021 award year in a program that leads to a degree or certificate and the name of that educational institution. |
| | (2) If an institution has reason to believe that the signed statement provided by the applicant regarding the number of household members enrolled in eligible postsecondary institutions is inaccurate, the institution must obtain documentation from each institution named by the applicant that the household member in question is, or will be, attending on at least a half-time basis unless— |
| High School Completion Status | The applicant's high school completion status when the applicant attends the institution in 2020-2021. |
| | (1) |
| | (2) |
| | (3) |
| Identity/Statement of Educational Purpose | (1) An applicant must appear in person and present the following documentation to an institutionally authorized individual to verify the applicant's identity: |
| | |
| | (2) If an institution determines that an applicant is unable to appear in person to present an unexpired valid government-issued photo identification and execute the Statement of Educational Purpose, the applicant must provide the institution with— |
| | |
**Verification Requirements for Individuals Who Are Eligible for an Auto Zero Expected Family Contribution (EFC)**
Only the following FAFSA/ISIR information must be verified:
For dependent students—
• The parents' AGI if the parents were tax filers;
• The parents' income earned from work if the parents were nontax filers; and
• The student's high school completion status and identity/statement of educational purpose, if selected.
For independent students—
• The student's and spouse's AGI if they were tax filers;
• The student's and spouse's income earned from work if they were nontax filers;
• The student's high school completion status and identity/statement of educational purpose, if selected; and
• The number of household members to determine if the independent student has one or more dependents other than a spouse.
**Note:**
Verification of nonfiling <sup>4</sup> from the IRS (or other relevant tax authority, if applicable) dated on or after October 1, 2019, must be provided for (1) independent students (and spouses, if applicable) and parents of dependent students who did not file and are not required to file a 2018 income tax return, and (2) individuals who are required to file a 2018 IRS income tax return but have not filed because they have been granted a tax filing extension by the IRS beyond the automatic six-month extension for the 2018 tax year.
**Other Sources for Detailed Information**
We provide a more detailed discussion on the verification process in the following resources:
• *2020-2021 Application and Verification Guide.*
• *2020-2021 ISIR Guide.*
• *2020-2021 SAR Comment Codes and Text.*
• *2020-2021 COD Technical Reference.*
• Program Integrity Information—Questions and Answers on Verification at *http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2009/verification.html.*
These publications are on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals website at www. *ifap.ed.gov.*
*Electronic Access to This Document:* The official version of this document is the document published in the *Federal Register* . You may access the official edition of the *Federal Register* and the Code of Federal Regulations at *www.govinfo.gov.* At this site you can view this document, as well as all other documents of this Department published in the *Federal Register* , in text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the site.
You may also access documents of the Department published in the *Federal Register* by using the article search feature at: *www.federalregister.gov.* Specifically, through the advanced search feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published by the Department.
**Program Authority:**
20 U.S.C. 1070a, 1070b-1070b-4, 1087a-1087j, and 42 U.S.C. 2751-2756b.
Dated: May 17, 2019.
Diane Auer Jones,
Principal Deputy Under Secretary Delegated to Perform the Duties of the Under Secretary and Assistant Secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education.