To
protect taxpayer data, the IRS and Federal Student Aid Office (FSA) of the
Department of Education announced this week the Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) on fafsa.gov and StudentLoans.gov will be
unavailable until extra security protections can be added. Students and
families should plan for the tool to be offline until the start of the next
FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) season.
Since the tool was disabled in
early March due to security concerns, the IRS has been working closely with FSA
to safely return the tool to service. “We know this tool is an easy way for
students and families working on applications to access their financial data,”
said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “While this tool provides an important
convenience for applicants, we cannot risk the safety of taxpayer data.
Protecting taxpayer data has to be the highest priority, and we will continue
working with FSA to bring this tool back in a safe and secure manner.”
While the Data
Retrieval Tool is unavailable, FSA and the IRS remind applicants that online
applications are
still available and are operable.
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