If your student loans were forgiven last year, what does that mean for your tax bill?
If your student loans were forgiven last year, what does that mean for your tax bill?
The last couple of years have been big ones for student loan forgiveness. Since President Joe Biden took office, more than 3.6 million people have had their federal loans forgiven in full — to the tune of nearly $132 billion.
Much of that forgiveness has been the result of temporary changes the administration made to existing programs, including the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and income-driven repayment.
If you’re one of the lucky people who had their loans forgiven last year, what does it mean for your taxes?
Betsy Mayotte, founder of the nonprofit Institute of Student Loan Advisors, has made a career of providing free student loan advice. So she gets questions about all things student debt-related — including taxes.
“I work with a lot of borrowers that are afraid of pursuing forgiveness because they have this vision of the IRS coming after them for, you know, a six-figure tax bill,” she said.
But for now, she said, that fear is unfounded. In 2021, as part of the American Rescue Plan, Congress temporarily changed the law so that student loan forgiveness is not considered taxable income.
“So if the forgiveness happens by the end of 2025, there will be no federal tax on it,” explained Mayotte.
That’s a big deal, said Adam Minsky, a lawyer who specializes in student loans.
“Loan forgiveness is typically taxed as income, as if the borrower earned the canceled balance in income in the year in which it was forgiven. And when you’re forgiving large balances, you know, obviously that can potentially result in a fairly significant tax bill that could be due all at once,” he said.
But again, anyone who received forgiveness in 2023 or gets it in the next two years doesn’t have to worry. Not about federal taxes, anyway.
As for state taxes, Francine Lipman at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said it depends where you live. “Each state has its own tax system. Many states piggyback on the federal rules.”
That means most states aren’t taxing people on student loan forgiveness either. A few are, though, cautioned John Buhl at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
“The states where I think taxpayers need to be the most cautious are Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Wisconsin” and Arkansas, he said. In those five states, some kinds of student loan forgiveness will be considered taxable income.
“No one wants to see a shock when they file their returns, but state taxes are considerably lower than federal taxes,” Buhl said.
So for those that do get a shock, at least it’ll be smaller than it could have been, he said.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
