Tax Transcript

[dartmouth26]

If you never filed taxes in 2020, but your school is requesting a tax transcript how does that work? I never filed taxes, so I wouldn't have a tax transcript? Is that correct?

[Bsch4477]

Yes. No tax return filed, no transcript. 

[bluedeb]

Correct, if you did not file a 2020 tax return then you would not have a tax transcript.  The school may require you to file a 2020 tax return.  If they do you cannot use the TurboTax Online version and since the IRS is very backlogged, a 2020 return can take a long time to be processed.

[Opus 17]

Financial Aid offices can be pretty dim.  What do they actually want?  If they want to see a tax return, you can prepare one, file by mail, and give them a copy of the signed return.  (Because of the backlog, it won't be in the online transcript system for a long time, probably months.)

Maybe you can show them your W-2 and that your income was so low you were not required to file.

If you filed before, just not last year, you can get an account transcript, that might satisfy them that you didn't file and don't owe tax.  (If you have never filed a tax return, you won't have an account to look up.)

It's hard to know how to satisfy them, ask them what do they really want to know?