Student loan debt

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department are offering a safe harbor to provide relief to taxpayers who borrowed money to attend a nonprofit or for-profit school and had their student loan debts discharged.

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is calling on Congress to allow the Internal Revenue Service to give the Department of Education information on the income of student loan borrowers, warning that student loan applicants are misrepresenting their income and family size to qualify for reduced payment plans.

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders will propose canceling the nation’s outstanding $1.6 trillion of student debt and offsetting the cost with a tax on Wall Street transactions.

A poll conducted on behalf of the American Institute of CPAs found that young job seekers consider student loan reimbursement to be a bigger concern than retirement.

The Democratic presidential candidate is seeking to show young voters she would ease one of their biggest economic burdens.

A New Jersey Society of CPAs poll of over 100 members found that approximately 75 percent of respondents still have debts of over $20,000.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a private letter ruling allowing an unnamed employer to make 401(k) contributions on behalf of employees who are repaying their student loans.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and a group of 14 other senators from both parties are asking the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department to clarify their rules to enable more lenders to refinance student loans.

Security concerns could keep the data tool down for weeks.

The American Institute of CPAs has updated the “body of knowledge” document that provides information to CPA financial planners on what they should know about taxes and other matters.