From the perspective of a Financial Aid Administrator:
I talked to a parent last week who ran into this issue. She hadn't used the IRS Data Retrieval Tool on the FAFSA. The DRT would preclude the need for the original tax return and we would just need the amended return. However, since she didn't use the IRS DRT, we need both. The reason is that there is verifiable information that would not be present on the 1040X (for example: education credits.)
The student or parent could go to the IRS website and 'get trancript online' or follow directions for other ways to obtain the initial tax return transcript. Our national organization used this verbiage: IRS Tax Return Transcript and IRS Tax Account Transcript should be requested to complete verification.
This may also apply when the IRS has made a correction and the student/parent themselves did not amend the return.
