In the latest update from the Department of Education, detailed steps have been taken to rectify issues with the 2024-25 FAFSA forms linked to IRS FA-DDX data errors. The announcement highlights the successful reprocessing of nearly all affected records, ensuring institutions can now proceed with financial aid offers. Key details cover the types of corrections made, the ongoing monitoring for additional errors, and guidance for institutions on identifying updated records. This update is crucial for ensuring the accuracy of student aid distributions and minimizing disruptions in financial aid processing.
It is important to note ISIRs were not reprocessed if it would not result in a change to the SAI. Additionally in this announcement it is noted how these reprocessed ISIRs contain a code to help identify them and the primary reason for the reprocessing:
In addition, this week, the Department will continue to email students and contributors who still need to make a correction to a 2024–25 FAFSA form, as well as to those who started a form, but did not yet submit it. The Department recently launched two videos—one for students and one for contributors—that guide applicants and their families through the process to make corrections and submit the FAFSA form.
For more detailed information, you can read the full announcement GENERAL-24-49 below.
POSTED DATE April 29, 2024
AUTHOR Federal Student Aid
ELECTRONIC ANNOUNCEMENT ID GENERAL-24-49
SUBJECT 2024-25 FAFSA Update: Reprocessing of IRS FA-DDX Data Known Issues
This electronic announcement provides a technical update on the Department of Education’s (the Department’s) plans to reprocess 2024-25 FAFSA forms with IRS FA-DDX known issues by May 1 as outlined in Electronic Announcement (GENERAL-24-37).
The Department has now delivered the reprocessed ISIRs of nearly all impacted records to institutions and states. The completion of reprocessing both the FAFSA Processing System (FPS) and IRS FA-DDX known issues should enable all institutions to package aid offers, including those institutions who chose to wait for all reprocessed records prior to proceeding.
Reprocessing IRS FA-DDX Data Known Issues
Over the weekend, the Department completed reprocessing FAFSA forms impacted by known issues with the IRS FA-DDX and today will deliver the subsequent ISIR transactions to states and schools. These reprocessed records include updated data received via the IRS FA-DDX for education tax credits and, for taxpayers who filed an amended return or whose tax data was updated for other reasons, adjusted gross income (AGI) and filing status. As a reminder the FA-DDX does not include amended or updated tax information but instead will use original tax data consistent with the methodology used by the Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) for past FAFSA cycles.
Note: Additional research into the IRS FA-DDX known issues determined that reprocessing some records outlined in Electronic Announcement (GENERAL-24-38) would not result in a change to the data provided on the ISIR. To avoid confusion, if reprocessing a FAFSA record would not result in an updated ISIR, we have not reprocessed that record or sent a subsequent transaction.
Researching Potential Issues
The Department believes that virtually all of the ISIRs that have been delivered are complete and accurate. As is common every year, we continue to receive reports of a small number of potential issues that require research to determine if they are related to user, system, or vendor software issues. The Department prioritizes and publishes issues that either prevent form submission or result in an inaccurate eligibility calculation. The Department publishes known FSA systems issues that are currently being researched or may require reprocessing in the Technical FAQ and Known Issues Guide.
Blank SAI Field
The Department is aware of, and has noted in the Technical FAQ and Known Issues Guide, reports of ISIRs with a blank SAI field where that would not be expected. The recent reprocessing of records impacted by FPS and IRS FA-DDX known issues corrected many of these occurrences. We continue to research and correct a small number of additional records that are affected by issues resulting in blank SAI fields that should be populated. We will continue to communicate about and quickly resolve these issues.
Identifying Reprocessed ISIRs
During reprocessing, the Department identified FAFSA records with incorrect IRS FA-DDX data, corrected the most recent transaction, and then processed the record, creating a new transaction. Each transaction contains information to identify that it has been reprocessed.
The following fields on an ISIR can help you identify a reprocessed transaction along with the primary reason for the reprocessing:
Field 9: Transaction Source will be set to “5” to indicate FPS as the source of the transaction.
Field 16: FPS Correction Reason will be set to “P” to indicate Reprocessing.
Field 572: Reprocessed Reason Code, a two-digit code allowing for cross-referencing reprocessing reasons with the known issues detailed in the Technical FAQ and Known Issues document.
All currently assigned codes are listed below. Records reprocessed because of known issues with data received via the IRS FA-DDX will include the ‘06’ code.
Description of Reprocessing Categories
- 02 – Pell eligibility and Pell Grant Eligibility Flag: Any record where the Pell Grant flag was set incorrectly. Will cover both the Flag is Yes and should be blank and vice versa.
- 03 – There are a small number of ISIRs that may be missing some Comment Codes based on a few FPS edits that may need adjustment.
- 04 – No SAI on non-rejected ISIRs: Any record that has no SAI and is not rejected due to SSA Match signature mismatch.
- 05 – Blank (SCA) leading to miscalculated SAIs: Any dependent student where the Student Contribution from Assets was calculated incorrectly.
- 06 – Updated FTI IRS data: A student or contributor on the FAFSA who has incorrect IRS Federal Tax Information (FTI) that resulted in a change to the ISIR will be included.
FAFSA Form Submission and Initial Processing Update
The Department has now transmitted the ISIRs from approximately 8.2 million FAFSA forms to schools, states, and designated scholarship organizations. In addition, nearly 1 million corrections have been successfully processed addressing the most common issues with FAFSA submission. Whether resulting from a new submission or a correction, applicants’ ISIRs are now being sent to schools and states within 1 to 3 days of submission.
The Department is emailing applicants and their contributors who still need to make a correction to the form or have started but not completed their form. The Department is encouraging states and schools to continue their outreach to these students as well as to admitted students who have not yet submitted a FAFSA. There is also a sizeable number of students who have started, but not yet submitted, their FAFSA form. The Department is reaching out to these students and their contributors on a weekly basis to encourage them to complete their application.
Get Help
We appreciate the extraordinary efforts being made by schools, vendors, states, and other partners during this difficult year.
For technical issues related to ISIR processing:
- For support with your SAIG agreement and mailbox, or for help with technical issues related to ISIR processing, the FAFSA Partner Portal (FPP), or EDExpress, please contact the FPS Help Desk (formerly CPS/SAIG Technical Support) at 1-800-330-5947 or by email at support@fps.ed.gov.
- For general questions related to the 2024-25 FAFSA, we welcome our partners to continue using the Contact Customer Support form in FSA’s Partner Connect Help Center. To submit a question, please enter your name, email address, topic, and question. When submitting a question, please select the topic “2024–25 FAFSA.”
To request assistance with financial aid management systems configuration or processing applications:
- For schools that need direct technical assistance related to processing applications and packaging aid award offers, please continue submitting your requests to the College Support Concierge mailbox CollegeSupportStrategy-FAFSA@ed.gov.
SOURCE: (GENERAL-24-49) 2024-25 FAFSA Update: Reprocessing of IRS FA-DDX Data Known Issues