V1/V5 Verification Form Instructions

A WORD FROM STUDENT FINANCIAL SERVICES: Your application was selected for review in a process called “Verification.” In this process, we will be comparing information from your application with the appropriate Federal Tax Return, and/or with W2s or other financial documents. The U.S. Dept. of Education requires us to collect this information before awarding federal aid. If there are differences between your application information and your financial documents, corrections may need to be made to your FAFSA. Complete this form and submit it to the Office of Student Financial Services as soon as possible to ensure prompt processing. Warning: If you purposely give false or misleading information on this sheet, you may be fined, and/or be sentenced to jail by the federal government.

SECTION 1: HOUSEHOLD/FAMILY SIZE INFORMATION

2024-25 FAMILY SIZE INFORMATION*

*Previously referred to as Household Information

Family size is based on federal tax information (FTI) transferred directly from the IRS to the FAFSA via the FUTURE Act Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX), This means that the number of dependents in the family size is now based on the number of individuals who are claimed as dependents on either the applicant's (if independent) or parent's (if dependent) US federal tax return. For more information about who can be claimed as a dependent on a federal tax return, see the IRS document Overview of the Rules for Claiming a Dependent.

If FTI is pulled in, the FAFSA contributor (student and/or parent) is then given the opportunity to manually update the family size if it has changed since filing the applicable tax return. However, the contributor cannot see what family size was reported from the FA-DDX, as the transferred FTI is masked.

When the FAFSA contributor manually enters the family size, they are instructed as follows:

Q: Were you required to provide parent information on the FAFSA?

A: NO. Then you are classified as Independent. Include the following people in the box:

yourself, your spouse, if applicable, and
student's dependent children if the following are true:
- they live with the student (or live apart due to college enrollment);
- they receive more than half of their support from the student; and
- they will continue to receive more than helf their support from the student during the award year
other persons if the following are true:
- they live with the student
- they receive more than half of their support from the student; and
- they will continue to receive more than half of their support from the student during the award year

NOTE:	The provided criteria for "dependent children" or "other persons" aligns with the requirement that family size aligns with whom the student could claim as dependent on a US tax return if the student were to file a US tax return at the time of completing the 2024-25 FAFSA. As a result, the student should not include any unborn children in the family size.

B. YES. Then you are classified as Dependent. Include the following people in the box:

yourself and your parent(s), and
your parent(s)' other childrent, if the following are true:
- they live with the student's parents(or live apart due to college enrollment),
- they receive more than half of their support from the student's parents, and
- they will continue to receive more than half of their support from the student's parents during the award year, and
other people if the following are true:
- they live with the student's parents,
- they receive more than half of their support from the student' parents, and
- they will continue to receive more than half of their support from the student's parents during the award year.

NOTE:	The provided criteria for "dependent children" or "other persons" aligns with the requirement that family size aligns with whom the parent could claim as a dependent on a US tax return if the parent were to file a US tax return at the time of completing the 2024-25 FAFSA. As a result, the parent should not include any unborn children in the family size.

NOT SURE?

To determine who is considered a parent contributor for purposes of this form, see below:

If your parents are living together and/or married to each other, include them both in the family size listing.
If your parent is widowed or single, list this parent. If your widowed parent is remarried as of the day you completed the FAFSA, include the person to whom your parent is married, i.e. your stepparent.
If your parents have divorced or separated, only include the parent who provides more financial support for you in the family size. If this parent has remarried as of the day you completed the FAFSA, also include the person whom your parent married, i.e. your stepparent.

2023-24 HOUSEHOLD INFORMATION

Were you required to provide parent information on the FAFSA?

NO. Then you are classified as Independent. Include the following people in the box:

yourself, your spouse if married, and
your children, if you will provide more than half of their support from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024 and
other people, if they now live with you, and you provide more than half of their support and will continue to provide more than half of their support from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.

YES. Then you are classified as Dependent. Include the following people in the box:

yourself and your custodial parent(s), and
your custodial parent(s)’ other children, if (a) your parent(s) will provide more than half of their support from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024, or (b) the children would be required to provide parental information if completing a FAFSA for 2023-24, and
other people if they now live with your parent(s), and your parent(s) provide more than half of their support and will continue to provide more than half of their support from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.

NOT SURE? To determine who is considered a custodial parent for purposes of this form, see below:

If your parents are living together and/or married to each other, include them both in the household listing.
If your parent is widowed or single, list this parent. If your widowed parent is remarried as of the day you completed the FAFSA, also include the person whom your parent married, i.e. your stepparent.
If your parents have divorced or separated, only include in the household listing the parent with whom you live the most.
If you did not live with one parent more than the other, only include the parent who provides more financial support to you. If this parent has remarried as of the day you completed the FAFSA, also include the person whom your parent married, i.e. your stepparent.

SECTION 2 - TAX INFORMATION

2024-25

1. Verification of 2022 Income Information for Student Tax Filers

As part of federal student aid eligibility, students and spouses (as appropriate), will be required to consent and approve sharing and importing income and tax information from the IRS to the FAFSA form, even if the attempt to obtain or use such data is ineffective. In other words, if the student and spouse filed separate 2022 IRS income tax returns, both must provide consent and approval to share and import income and tax information form the IRS.

If 2022 income tax return information for the student or spouse, (if applicable) was not available or could not be used, the student should provide the institution with a 2022 IRS Tax Return Transcript(s) or a signed copy of the 2022 income tax return and applicable schedules.

A 2022 IRS Tax Return Transcript may be obtained at Tax Return Transcript online or by calling 1-800-908-9946 and requesting a copy to be mailed. You may also need to submit copies of all W-2s and/or 1099 forms for 2022.

2. Verification of 2022 Income Information for Parent Tax Filers

As part of federal student aid eligibility, parents will be required to consent and approve sharing and importing income and tax information from the IRS to the FAFSA form, even if the attempt to obtain or use such data is ineffective. In other words, if the parents filed separate 2022 IRS income tax returns, both must provide consent and approval to share and import income and tax information form the IRS.

If 2022 income tax return information for the parents was not available or could not be used, the parents should provide the institution with a 2022 IRS Tax Return Transcript(s) or a signed copy of the 2022 income tax return and applicable schedules.

3. Individuals Granted a Filing Extension by the IRS

An individual who is required to file a 2022 IRS income tax return and has been granted a filing extension by the IRS beyond the automatic six-month extension for tax year 2022, must provide:

a signed statement listing the sources of any 2022 income and the amount of income from each source
a copy of the IRS's approval of an extension beyond the automatic six-month extension for tax year 2022.
a copy of IRS form W-2 for each source of employment income received or an equivalent document for tax year 2022; and
if self-employed, a copy of IRS form 1099s for each source of income received, a signed statement certifying the amount of the individual's Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) and the US income tax paid for tax year 2022.

FOREIGN, US TERRITORY, OR COMMONWEALTH RESIDENTS: Please submit a copy of your 2022 tax transcript. If no taxes were filed, we can accept a Wage & Tax Statement or its equivalent from each employer indicating total income earned and taxes paid during January through December 2022.

2023-24

Your application requires IRS tax data. We recommend that you use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (IRS DRT) on the FAFSA to link directly to the IRS database. To address security concerns, the tax return information you transfer from the IRS will no longer be displayed on the Federal Student Aid site or the IRS DRT web page. Instead you will see “Transferred from the IRS” in the appropriate fields on the Federal Student Aid site. If you and/or your custodial parent(s) or spouse filed a tax return but were not presented with the option to link directly to the IRS database, you must provide a signed copy of the 2021 income tax return (Form 1040) for you and your custodial parent(s) or spouse. You may also try to download a free Tax Return Transcript online or call 1-800-908-9946 and request a copy to be mailed. You may also need to submit copies of all W-2s and/or 1099 forms for 2021.

Foreign, US territory, or commonwealth residents: Please submit a copy of your 2021 tax transcript. If no taxes were filed, we can accept a Wage & Tax Statement or its equivalent from each employer indicating total income earned and taxes paid during January – December 2021.