Step 1

Go to https://app.clarityapp.com/sign-up

Step 2

Begin your application and add Coram Deo Academy (All Locations DFW, TX) to your student applicant entry. You can save your application and log out at any time and return later to complete it.

Step 3

Complete your application and pay the $65 Clarity application fee.

Step 4

Complete the Clarity Enhanced Tax Verification (ETV) process to release your W2 and personal tax return transcripts from the IRS. You'll be asked to authorize the sharing of your tax transcripts and verify your identity. Clarity offers two options for enhanced tax verification process: “Clarity” and “IRS”. Please reference the Tax Verification Guide to preview the steps of this process.  

We highly recommend the IRS pathway.  It is significantly faster, allowing the documents to transfer within 24 hours. For this reason, any applicant who applies after November 23rd, will need to select the IRS pathway in order to meet our priority deadline.

Step 5

Submit your Clarity application and follow the link to return to your dashboard to upload any additional supporting documents requested by schools. Supporting documents must be submitted by your application deadline. Keep in mind that you may be prompted by the school via Clarity to upload additional documentation as needed.

If you need support during the process of completing your application, there is in-app support available through the “Help” button in the bottom left of the screen. Additional resources:

Clarity Family Application Guide
This guide will walk you step-by-step through the Clarity application process for the 2026-2027 academic year.

Clarity Application Quick Reference Guide 
An abbreviated reference guide with application information.

Q: How do I know my information that I share in the identity verification process is secure?

Clarity takes safeguarding your personal data incredibly seriously and goes through annual SOC2 audits as well as engages in annual penetration testing. Additionally, all of the data collected during the identity verification process is stored in an encrypted database and will only be accessed in the event of an audit by the IRS.

Q: Who are James McGowan and Elizabeth Boonin?

Tax Authorization Requests require an IRS credentialed designee on file as a liable party. James and Elizabeth are our designated IRS practitioners, so their names will be the ones displayed.

Q: I have a choice to verify through Clarity or the IRS. Which should I use?

Both options will retrieve your tax returns from the IRS, and both require an identity verification step. Families who select the Clarity pathway will sign a tax request form (PDF) that is transmitted to the IRS for a human at the IRS to approve. This process can take 3-5 business days for verification. Families who select the IRS pathway will log into their IRS.gov account to sign and submit the tax authorization electronically. This process leads to verification in less than 24 hours. 

Q: I do not want to do the tax verification process, can I upload my 1040 and W2 instead?

There isn’t a way to bypass this part of the process.

Clarity utilizes IRS forms to securely obtain digital transcripts (not originals or copies) of your W2 and 1040 filings. These are standard forms used across the financial industry. If you’ve ever applied for a mortgage, refinanced, gotten a car loan, or any other personal loan, you likely filled out a similar form as part of that application. These are standard forms that those companies will use to determine what size loan you qualify for by retrieving transcripts of your most recent tax filing information. In fact, if you plan to use the FAFSA to apply for college financial aid, they will also ask you to complete these forms to obtain your tax transcripts just like Clarity does.

Clarity provides the forms in a secure docusign format where you’ll enter your SSN (this is completely masked and is only visible to you and the IRS), confirm your address and name are accurate, and then e-sign. The form then goes directly to the IRS, which then processes the request and provides the data and transcripts to Clarity within your application file. This saves you time so that you aren’t pulling out all of your tax returns and transposing numbers from the returns into the application. It is also more secure because you are not uploading copies of original documents, so those copies or PDFs are not sitting on your desktop or in a folder on your computer, or in an email server, or at the school office, etc.

Clarity is both SOC2 and GDPR compliant, which are gold standards for cybersecurity, and we are voluntarily audited on our security protocols by an independent assessor twice per year.

Q: I am being asked to authorize for future year taxes too, why do you need this?

In both the IRS or Clarity pathways, families will provide authorization and consent for Clarity to retrieve their 2024 tax documents (1040 and W2) and share them with the schools on their application. Additionally, families will provide authorization (but not consent) for Clarity to retrieve their 2025, 2026, and 2027 tax documents (1040 and W2). The reason Clarity requests this advanced authorization is that it will allow Clarity to instantaneously retrieve and share future year tax documents with schools upon a family's re-application in those future years.

Q: What if a family does not reapply for financial aid next year?

If a family does not reapply for financial aid next year, then Clarity will not retrieve any future year tax documents for them. No future year tax documents are retrieved without the family submitting a financial aid application and consenting to their release for the relevant school year.

Q: I’m being prompted to verify my identity. What does this process involve?

Identity verification is a one-time process where a parent/guardian uploads a picture of a government-issued photo ID and takes a selfie photo to verify their identity. Parents/guardians can complete this process from within the financial aid application, or have a link texted to their mobile device to complete it there.

Q: Who needs to complete the identity verification process?

All parents/guardians who are US taxpayers are required to provide tax documents through Clarity’s new IRS integration, and will be prompted to complete the one-time identity verification process.

Q: How do I know my identity information that I share in the identity verification process is secure?

Clarity takes safeguarding your personal data incredibly seriously and goes through annual SOC2 audits as well as engages in annual penetration testing. Additionally, all of the data collected during the identity verification process is stored in an encrypted database and will only be accessed in the event of an audit by the IRS.

Q: Do both parents/guardians have to verify their identity? 

The IRS requires the identity verification for each parent/guardian that has a W2 and/or tax return. If both parents/guardians in the household file jointly, and only one receives a W2, we do not require the identity verification for the parent/guardian who does not receive a W2. If the both parents/guardians in the household file their tax returns separately, they will both have to verify their identity.

Q: I don’t want to go through the identity verification process. How do I avoid it?

The identity verification process is something that the IRS requires of all US taxpayers in order to authorize the sharing of tax transcripts. There is no way around it, but it’s a one time process, which means that once parents/guardians do it this year, they won’t have to do it again in the future.