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Brief outages planned for the IRS Data Retrieval Tool

By Catherine Mueller

July 27, 2022

Those students who waited to complete the FAFSA until tuition bills come due should note some upcoming, but brief, outages of the IRS Data Retrieval Tool.

In a July 27 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education said the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) will be unavailable on the following dates and times during the months of July and August 2022:

• Sunday, July 31; 2–5 p.m. Eastern time (ET)
• Sunday, August 7; 2–5 p.m. ET

According to the announcement, during these outage periods, users can still access the access the FAFSA form and the Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plan Request. However, if an action requires entry of federal tax information, the tax information will need to be provided manually (or, in the case of the IDR Plan Request, alternative documentation of income may need to be provided).

The Department suggests advising users complete the FAFSA or IDR Plan Request application after the outages are over.