What is Federal Tax Information (FTI)
FTI stands for Federal Tax Information and starting with the 2024-25 award year, FAFSA contributors (student and spouse or parent/stepparent, as applicable) must give the U.S. Department of Education (ED) consent to retrieve federal tax information (FTI) from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for purposes of determining a student’s eligibility for Title IV federal student aid.
If the student, spouse, or parent fails to provide consent, the student is not eligible for Title IV aid. The retrieval of FTI replaces the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (IRS DRT).
FTI for each tax filer includes the following:
- Tax year
- Tax filing status;
- Adjust Gross Income (AGI);
- Number of dependents;
- Income earned from work;
- Taxes paid;
- Educational tax credits;
- Untaxed individual retirement arrangement/account (IRA) distributions;
- IRA deductions and payments;
- Untaxed pension amounts
- Tax-exempt interest;
- Schedule C net profit/loss;
- Indicators for Schedules A, B, D, E, F, and H; and
- IRS response code.
Access and Use of FTI
Confidentiality and Safeguards
FTI is categorized as Controlled Unclassified Information/Specified Tax (CUI//SP-TAX) and may contain sensitive personally identifiable information (PII). Accordingly, all FTI must be handled—at minimum—in accordance with the confidentiality protections of the IRC and subject to Section 6103(l)(13) of the IRC requirements as well as the use restrictions of FTI under Section 483 of HEA as amended by the FAFSA Simplification Act.
Who has FTI Access?
The employees of the university that aid in the application, award, and administration of financial aid. Additionally, our university may, with the applicant’s consent, release FTI to a scholarship granting organization, or to an organization assisting the applicant in applying for and receiving Federal, State, local, or tribal assistance, that is designated by the applicant to assist the applicant in applying for and receiving financial assistance for any component of the applicant’s cost of attendance.
How can the student provide written consent to release FTI to entities in assisting in applying for and receiving financial aid?
The student can submit a Consent to Release Federal Tax Information form to authorize consent for Student Financial Services to disclose federal tax information from their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to the parties identified by the student.
Do individuals who have third party authorization have access to FTI?
It depends. The third-party authorization only allows a student to grant access to their educational records to other entities besides themselves, such as a parent, spouse, etc. Education records are defined as records that are directly related to a student (such as academic and personal records relating to scholastic, disciplinary, and financial). The ‘financial’ does not carry over to FTI, as FTI confidentiality is protected separately in accordance with the confidentiality protections of the IRC and subject to Section 6103(l)(13) of the IRC requirements as well as the use restrictions of FTI under Section 483 of HEA as amended by the FAFSA Simplification Act. A Consent to Release Federal Tax Information is required before FTI will be discussed or released to any parties other than those who were contributors on the FAFSA.