NASFAA AskRegs: What Do the IRS Response Codes Mean?

This AskRegs Knowledgebase Q&A was updated on April 3, 2024 to clarify that contributors only need to be verified when the application is selected for verification separately from these codes.

The following IRS Response Codes are used when the FUTURE Act Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX) transfers or attempts to transfer federal tax information (FTI) from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) into the FAFSA for a contributor (student, spouse, parent):

200	Successful Request	FTI was successfully transferred into the FAFSA	FTI is considered verified if manual entry of tax return information is not required and Professional Judgment (PJ) Flag is not set If manual entry of tax information is required, it will appear in the Manually Entered Financial Information ISIR block; follow verification requirements for tax filers in September 19, 2023 Federal Register only IF selected for verification If tax information is manually entered and not needed, it will be removed
203	Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Match Failed	Contributor identifiers do not match IRS records (IRS error code; unable to confirm tax identity)	FTI cannot be retrieved; if tax return data is required, it must be manually entered by the contributor FTI cannot be used to complete verification; follow verification requirements for tax filers in September 19, 2023 Federal Register only IF selected for verification
206	Partial Delivery of Content	FTI transfer incomplete (IRS error code)	FTI cannot be retrieved; if tax return data is required, it must be manually entered by the contributor FTI cannot be used to complete verification; follow verification requirements for tax filers in September 19, 2023 Federal Register only IF selected for verification There will be no partial FTI and partial manual entry
212	Cannot Verify Return Data	Unable to confirm tax return data (IRS error code)	FTI cannot be retrieved; if tax return data is required, it must be manually entered by the contributor FTI cannot be used to complete verification; follow verification requirements for tax filers in September 19, 2023 Federal Register only IF selected for verification
214	No Return on File	Contributor did not file a tax return	No FTI to be retrieved; manual entry of tax information is not required for U.S. nonfilers; manual entry is required for foreign nonfilers Follow verification requirements for nontax filers in September 19, 2023 Federal Register only IF selected for verification Only confirms contributor did not file a tax return, not whether they were required to file a tax return

The above guidance is NASFAA's understanding based in part on the Parameter Value Edit Conditions in Volume 5 of the FAFSA Specifications Guide. NASFAA is unaware of the reasons for codes 206 and 212.

The IRS Response Codes simply indicate whether the FA-DDX was able to retrieve tax return data, and if not, as a general rule they must manually enter tax data. These codes do not indicate whether an application is selected for verification. Having one of these codes by itself does not represent conflicting information or require you to collect tax documents. You only need tax transcripts or tax returns if they're selected for verification and manually entered tax data (because of code 203, 206, or 212), or there is conflicting information in the student's file otherwise. If the FA-DDX was successful and FTI remains unchanged (there is no manually entered tax data), the tax information is already considered verified. See the September 19, 2023 Federal Register for verification requirements. Look to the comment codes and reject codes for any other documentation requirements.

What Do the IRS Response Codes Mean?

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