One of the nicest features of the Clarity Financial Aid application for both Families and Schools is the ability to verify your income and tax information through the IRS using the Verification Form. This form helps remove the steps of families needing to gather all the tax documentation, as well as the schools needing to manually enter all the information from those documents before deciding on Financial Aid. Unfortunately, there are cases where this process is unsuccessful and it is necessary to fill in any gaps that the IRS was unable to provide.
Why am I receiving requests for documents? I thought the IRS provided everything.
The IRS is VERY strict when verifying people's information. As inconvenient as it may be, it IS safer for everyone so that personal information doesn’t go anywhere it shouldn’t. In the cases where the IRS does not verify some or all of a household's information, the IRS does not share the reason behind the failure. It could be as simple as a typo in the information provided on the tax verification Form. Since an application can only submit one tax verification Form, one of the most important steps a family can do is make sure that everything on their tax verificaton matches the information on their 1040 before submitting it. Below are some of the most common reasons that the IRS does not provide information for a household:
Using a shortened or preferred first name that does not match your 1040 or W2(s). (EX: Using Mike instead of Michael. Or if you commonly go by your middle name, enter that as your first name. This can also include if your Employer spells your name wrong, or uses a nickname on your W2)
The address you provided does not match your 1040 or W2(s), as specific as using the wrong street suffix. (EX: Using Lane instead of Street, or St. instead of Street, etc.)
If you have corrected tax documents, such as a corrected W2 or a 1040-X, but it is still being processed by the IRS
If you are actively being audited by the IRS
Entering the wrong filing status
General issues and delays with the IRS
Even if all of your information was successfully verified through the IRS, you could still receive a request for further documentation for the school(s) you are applying to for their application process. The E-mail you receive will specify which school made the request, as well as what documentation they need. If you have questions about any of the other document requests from a School, we recommend that you reach out to that school specifically to make sure you are providing them with what they require.
So what do I need to do now?
If the IRS was not able to verify some of your information, then the E-mail you received should inform you of which documents the IRS was unable to verify. The E-mail will also contain a link to take you to the page to upload the requested document(s) for manual verification. If the request is for a 1040 and you filed digitally, then you can simply upload the entire PDF file that you have and it will contain everything that is needed. If you are using a paper copy of your 1040, you can upload just the specific pages needed so you do not have to scan the entire document. The Pages needed are listed below:
Page 1 and Page 2 of the 1040
Schedule 1 from the 1040 if there is an amount listed in Line 8 of Page 1
Schedule 2 from the 1040 if there is an amount listed in Line 23 of Page 2
Schedule C from the 1040 if there is an amount listed in Line 3 of Schedule 1. (NOTE: There can be more than one Schedule C, so please make sure to include all of them with your upload.)
Schedule E from the 1040 if there is an amount listed in Line 5 of the Schedule 1. (NOTE: Like the Schedule C there can be more than one Schedule E in your return, so please make sure to include all of them with your upload.)
If the request is for your W-2s, the E-mail will specify which Guardian’s W-2 information is missing. When uploading W-2s you can either upload each W-2 separately or together in one file; whichever is easier for you. The most important thing you can do when uploading W-2s is to make sure you upload ALL W-2s that you received for that tax period, as well as making sure they are the most up-to-date copies. (I.E: if you had a corrected W-2 make sure that is uploaded as well.) This is important so that your application can quickly be processed and sent to the school for review. If the information from the 1040 and uploaded W-2s do not match we will have to reach out to you for additional documents or clarification.
As an alternative to both the 1040 and the W-2 requests, you can also request transcripts from the IRS website to upload instead. This is useful for anyone who may be unable to access their tax return information for any reason. The most important thing when using this method is to make sure you are requesting the correct transcript that corresponds with the information that is missing as some of them have similar names but do not contain the same information. Below is the link to the IRS website containing information on the transcripts, how to request them, and which ones we use for verification:
Order Transcripts Here: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/transcript-types-and-ways-to-order-them
If the document request is for W-2s, you can request a “Wage and income transcript”. The 2 most important things to make sure of when requesting this is that you are requesting for the correct Guardian, as well as making sure it is for the correct tax period. Both will be listed in the E-mail you received with the document request.
If the document request is for a 1040, you can request a “Tax return transcript”. Make sure you choose this one specifically, as neither the “Tax account transcript” nor “Record of account transcript” contains the information needed to verify your application. As with the “Wage and income transcript” please make sure you are both requesting the transcript for the correct Guardian, as well as the correct tax period.
If the request is from a specific school that you applied to, it will inform you which document they want you to upload and for which Guardian. Even though you are uploading your documents to your Clarity account, these requests are coming from the School directly and we’re unable to help answer questions on what you should be uploading or removing the requests if they don’t apply to you. In these cases, we recommend you reach out to the school directly for any help regarding those requests. Below are some of the most common documents that are requested from schools:
1099s
Paystubs
Non-filer information
International documents
Mortgage statements
Why do I keep getting document requests when I already uploaded my documents?
There are many different reasons why you might be still receiving document requests, ranging from the uploaded file being locked with a password, a school that you applied to requesting additional documents for their application process, and everything in between. Generally, they fall under two broad categories: Needing to upload new types of documents or needing to update current documents.
The simpler of the two is the need to upload new types of documents. The most common occurrence of these is if originally only a 1040 was requested for a Guardian, but upon review, there should have also been a request for their W-2s as well. This just means we don’t have those documents yet and once uploaded the process can continue. But this can also apply if a school adds a document request of any kind that they need for their process once we pass the application on to them.
The more complicated cases are when we need updates to current documents. There are multiple different reasons why we might need to make another request, but in the E-mail, it will always describe what it is we need and why. Below are some of the most common reasons we might need more or updated documents to continue the verification process:
We received documents for the wrong tax period.
We received the wrong Guardian's documents. (This is most common when the IRS was able to verify one Guardian but not the other, and we received documents for the Guardian that were already verified by the IRS.)
We received only some of the document(s). (EX: Only received page 1 of your 1040 instead of both pages or only 1 W-2 when you have more than 1 W-2.)
We requested different documents but received copies of the documents that were previously uploaded or verified by the IRS. (EX: If the IRS verified your W-2 information but not your 1040. Instead of sending your 1040, you sent your W2.)
The uploaded documents were blurry and unreadable
The uploaded documents were corrupted
The uploaded documents were blank
For any questions, please contact support@clarityapp.com