The IRS has temporarily taken down a tool that simplifies the tax data input of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, due to concerns that it could be hacked, NPR reports. The agency called the move a "precautionary step." The Obama administration-approved tool is widely credited with increasing FAFSA application rates, and its suspension without notice right around the form's deadline has sparked serious concern, the report states. "Imagine what it would feel like if, on April 1st, two weeks before the tax deadline, TurboTax and all your online filing sites went down with no notice," said Commit Partnership's Sarah Jensen. In the meantime, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators has called on the Education Department to take "immediate steps" to streamline the FAFSA tax verification process in the absence of the Data Retrieval Tool.
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