How to Fill Out and Submit the IDR Recertification Form

To complete the IDR recertification form, sign in to StudentAid.gov, open the Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plan Request, pick your plan, provide your income (ideally by consenting to IRS data retrieval) and family size, then sign and submit. Aim to have it in your servicer’s hands at least 35 days before your annual recertification date. A paper version of the same form is available if you prefer to mail it.

When to Submit

Your recertification date is the annual deadline for updating your income and family size. Your servicer will send a reminder about three months out, but that notice can arrive late or land in a spam folder. Log in to your StudentAid.gov dashboard to see the exact date, and set your own calendar reminder two months ahead.

Give the process room to breathe. Your completed form should reach the servicer at least 35 days before the official date. Submitting within 10 days of the deadline raises the risk that your payment jumps before the new amount is calculated.

What the Form Asks For

The IDR Plan Request collects the same core information every year: adjusted gross income (AGI), family size, Social Security number, and contact details. Federal regulations calculate IDR payments as a function of income and family size, so those two figures drive your new monthly amount.¹

Income

The simplest option is to consent to letting the Department of Education pull your most recent federal tax return data directly from the IRS. That fills in your AGI automatically and skips manual uploads.² Without consent, or if the IRS transfer fails, you provide the documentation yourself, typically your most recent tax return or tax transcript.³

If your latest tax return no longer reflects what you actually earn, because you lost a job, had hours cut, or took a pay reduction, submit alternative documentation instead. Pay stubs, a signed letter from your employer showing gross monthly income, or bank statements all work. Using last year’s higher AGI in that situation would produce an inflated payment.

Family Size

Family size sets your income protection threshold; a larger family means a lower payment. Federal regulations count these people toward your family size:¹

You, the borrower.
Your spouse, if you file a joint federal tax return.
Your children, including unborn children expected during the certification year, provided they get more than half their support from you and aren’t counted in another borrower’s family size (other than a jointly filing spouse).
Other people who live with you and get more than half their support from you for the year.

How Your Tax Filing Status Feeds In

Married borrowers who file jointly have both spouses’ incomes factored into the IDR calculation. Filing as married filing separately causes the calculation to use only your individual income under IBR, PAYE, and ICR.⁴ Filing separately also costs you access to certain tax credits and deductions, so the tax hit may outweigh the payment savings. Run the numbers both ways before choosing. That decision happens at tax time, not on the recertification form, since the IDR calculation uses whatever status appears on your most recent return.

Which Plan You Can Recertify On

The Department of Education currently offers three income-driven repayment plans for new enrollment and recertification: Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), and Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR).⁵ When you recertify, you either stay on your current plan or switch to another one on the same form.

The Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan is not available. A federal court order issued on March 10, 2026, invalidated most of the July 2023 rule that created SAVE, including its payment formulas, interest subsidies, and discharge provisions. Borrowers whose loans were placed in forbearance because they had enrolled in or applied for SAVE need to select a different plan and start paying again.⁶ If you were on SAVE, log in to StudentAid.gov and choose IBR, PAYE, or ICR before your next payment is due.

Filling Out the Form Online

The online application at StudentAid.gov is the fastest way to recertify, and the same form handles first-time IDR applications and annual recertifications.⁵

Go to StudentAid.gov/idr and sign in with your FSA ID.
Select the IDR plan you’re recertifying under, or choose a different one if you want to switch.
Consent to IRS data retrieval so the system pulls your AGI automatically, or upload documentation if your return doesn’t reflect current income.
Enter your family size using the rules above.
Review every field on the summary page, then sign electronically.

You should get a confirmation email within minutes. Save it. That confirmation is your proof of timely filing if the servicer later says otherwise.

Filling Out the Paper Form

If you prefer paper or don’t have reliable internet access, download the IDR Plan Request form from StudentAid.gov and print it.⁷ The paper version is functionally identical to the online one; the form itself notes that online is faster.

Mail the completed form with your income documentation to the address your loan servicer provides. Section 7 of the paper form has a space for the servicer’s mailing address; if it’s blank, check your servicer’s website or call. Send it certified mail with a return receipt so you have proof of delivery. Paper takes longer to process than online, so mail well before the 35-day window.

Turning On Automatic Recertification

If you consent once, the Department of Education can pull your tax information from the IRS every year and recertify your IDR plan without any action from you.² That removes the risk of missing a deadline because you forgot or never saw the reminder.

To turn on automatic recertification outside of an active application:

Log in to your StudentAid.gov dashboard.
Select the arrow next to your name in the top right corner, then choose Settings.
Select Financial Information Access on the left.
Click Provide Consent if consent isn’t already on file.
Read the Authorization to Retrieve Federal Tax Information agreement, scroll to the bottom, and click Provide Approval.
Confirm the page shows Consent on file under the IDR header.

You can also give consent during the IDR application itself in the authorization section.

Automatic recertification works well when your tax return reflects your current income. If your income has dropped sharply since you last filed, the automated calculation will still use that older return and produce a payment that’s higher than necessary. In that situation, submit a manual recertification with current income documentation instead.

Recertifying Early When Your Income Drops

You don’t have to wait for your annual date. If you lose a job, have hours cut, take a salary cut, or change careers, submit the same IDR Plan Request form at any point to request a lower payment based on current income.

For an early recertification, provide documentation of what you’re earning now, since your last tax return won’t reflect the change. Recent pay stubs, an employer letter, or a signed written statement of income all work. If your income has fallen below 150% of the federal poverty guideline for your family size, you may qualify for a $0 monthly payment under IBR. Months at $0 still count toward IDR forgiveness and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), so getting the payment adjusted quickly protects your progress toward discharge.

One catch: submitting an early recertification resets your 12-month certification period. Your next annual date will run from when the early recertification is processed, not from your original anniversary.

What Happens After You Submit

The Department of Education or your servicer verifies your income and family size, then calculates your new monthly payment. Online submissions with IRS data retrieval tend to process quickly. Paper submissions and anything needing manual income review take longer; the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has noted that processing should generally take no more than two weeks, but some borrowers have reported applications sitting under review for months.⁸

While the form is under review, your servicer may place your account in a short-term administrative forbearance of up to 60 days to prevent payment confusion. Payments pause during that window, and the time still counts toward PSLF and IDR forgiveness. If processing drags past 60 days and the account shifts to a general forbearance, forgiveness progress stops accruing. Another reason to submit early and online.

After processing, you’ll receive a disclosure statement from your servicer showing the new monthly payment and its effective date. Check the number. If it looks wrong, especially if it’s higher than you expected, contact the servicer right away; errors in income data or family size entries are common and fixable.

If You Miss the Deadline

Missing your annual recertification date has consequences that vary by plan but never work in your favor. Across all IDR plans, your monthly payment reverts to what you’d owe under the standard ten-year repayment plan, which is often dramatically higher than your IDR payment.

The sharpest sting is on IBR. When you miss the IBR recertification deadline, any unpaid accrued interest capitalizes, getting added to your principal balance and permanently increasing what you owe. Capitalization does not occur for a missed recertification under PAYE or ICR, though the payment still jumps to the standard amount.

To recover, submit the IDR Plan Request form as soon as you can. You can re-enroll in your IDR plan, but months spent at the higher payment or in limbo may not count toward forgiveness the way they would have. Turning on automatic recertification through the consent process is a five-minute task that prevents most of this from ever happening.²

1
eCFR. 34 CFR 685.209 – Income-Driven Repayment Plans
2
Federal Student Aid. Top FAQs About Income-Driven Repayment Plans
3
eCFR. 34 CFR 685.209 – Income-Driven Repayment Plans
4
Federal Student Aid. 4 Things to Know About Marriage and Student Loan Debt
5
Federal Student Aid. Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plan Request
6
Federal Student Aid. IDR Court Actions
7
Federal Student Aid. Income-Driven Repayment Plan Request
8
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Trying to Enroll in an Income-Driven Repayment Plan? Avoid #ApplicationAbyss With Our Student Loan Tips and Resources