One of the biggest perks of federal student loans is the option to enroll in an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan. These cap your monthly payment at a percentage of income, making your payments more affordable — you may owe as little as $0 a month. 

But to use these plans, you must recertify your enrollment annually. While it’s a relatively simple process, you’ll have to provide updated information about your income and family size.

Federal student loans offer a variety of repayment options, including several income-driven repayment plans. These include: 

Each of these plans caps your payment at a percentage of discretionary income — between 10% and 20%, although this varies by plan. After you make payments for 20 or 25 years (again, depending on the plan), you can apply to get the remaining balance of your loan forgiven. 

Because your payments are set based on your income, your loan servicer needs details about your annual earnings and family size. Using this information, it can calculate the appropriate payment amount. 

If you don’t recertify your income as required, you could face significant consequences. You could be removed from the plan, your monthly payment could increase, and any unpaid interest could be capitalized — in other words, added to your loan balance. 

Once you enroll in an IDR plan, you must recertify your earnings and family size annually to remain eligible. Thankfully, the recertification process can be completed in as little as 10 minutes.

Start by logging into the IDR portal on StudentAid.gov. After selecting the option to recertify your plan, you’ll be prompted to provide personal information, such as your:

The Department of Education has an IRS data retrieval tool that can automatically transfer your tax information into the form. If you choose this option, you won’t need to provide additional supporting documentation. When prompted to use the tool, provide the IRS with your: 

Once you’ve input all required information into the IDR portal, give everything a final review before digitally signing the form. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, federal student loan payments have been paused since 2020. Because of this, you’re not required to recertify your income until payments restart. 

Once payments begin, you’ll have six months (or more) after the end of the pause to recertify your income. You can also recertify earlier if you choose — this could be useful if your income has significantly declined, as it could result in a lower monthly payment when payments do resume. 

You also have the option to temporarily self-report your income if you have federal Direct Loans. This means you don’t need to submit any tax documentation. To do this, start the normal recertification process using the directions above. When you get to the income section, select “I’ll report my own income information.” 

The option to self-report your income will end six months after student loan payments restart. 

Typically, your deadline to recertify your income is 12 months from the day you enter into an IDR plan — however, the student loan payment pause may have disrupted that schedule. Your loan servicer will send you reminders to recertify your information. 

It can take time for your paperwork to be processed and verified. As a result, it’s a good idea to submit your recertification about two months prior to the deadline. 

If you don’t recertify your information by the annual deadline, you could face serious consequences. Depending on the plan you’re enrolled in, you can expect the following:

Unpaid interest will also be capitalized, or added to your loan’s balance, on the REPAYE, PAYE, and IBR plans if you fail to recertify by the deadline. Once this happens, you’ll owe more money, and interest will be calculated on the larger balance.

You can recertify your IDR plan before the annual deadline. In fact, it may be smart to do so if your income has decreased, you’ve lost your job, or your family size has grown. 

If you recertify your plan after events like these, your loan servicer will adjust your monthly payment accordingly. This ensures you won’t pay more than required, helping your loans remain affordable. 

Recertification makes sure you can afford your monthly payments, but income-driven options are only available for federal loans. If you have private student debt and want to lower your payments, refinancing student loans may be a useful strategy. 

Related: Learn more about refinancing your student loans.