A little good news. The COVID relief bill that Congress passed a few days ago includes modest tax relief for student debtors whose college loans are forgiven.
Senators Bob Mendez and Elizabeth Warren introduced the Student Loan Tax Relief Act in the U.S. Senate as a provision of the $1.9 trillion COVID relief legislation.
Thanks to the passage of the Mendez-Warren bill, student debtors who complete income-driven repayment plans (IDRs) and have their college loans forgiven will not get a tax bill.
In most circumstances, the Internal Revenue Service considers a forgiven debt to be taxable income. Until the Mendez-Warren bill became law, this was a problem for student debtors in IDRs.
Indeed, most college-loan debtors in IDRs will have substantial loan balances when they finish making monthly payments under a 25-year IDR because their payments weren't large enough to cover accruing interest.
The U.S. Department forgives the remaining student-loan debt for individuals who complete IDRs, but the IRS has treated the forgiven debt as taxable income. Under the terms of the Mendez-Warren bill, that forgiven debt is no longer taxable.
This is a good development, but the Student Loan Tax Relief Act offers is only a modest reform.
First of all, the IRS does not tax forgiven debt if the debtor is insolvent when the debt is forgiven. Since most student debtors who complete 25-year IDRs will be insolvent, their forgiven debt would not have been taxable even before the Mendez-Warren bill became law.
Second, for reasons I do not understand, the tax-relief measure expires on January 1, 2026. After that date, forgiven debt will again be treated as income by the IRS.
Third, as the National Consumer Law Center reported earlier this month, only 32 people who completed IDRs have had their loan forgiven. If this low IDR-completion rate continues, the Mendez-Warren measure will impact very few people.
In short, the Mendez-Warren legislation is a welcome development but is no reason for student debtors to start popping the champagne corks. Save the champagne for the day Congress repeals the undue-hardship language in the Bankruptcy Code and allows distressed student debtors to discharge their student loans in bankruptcy.
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| Don't pop the champagne corks over the Student Loan Tax Relief Act. |
