Student Loan Forgiveness? It's Taxable in Some States

An estimated 43 million Americans qualifying for the Biden administration’s student loan debt forgiveness program won’t have to account for the $10,000 benefit on their federal 1040 tax returns next year, but they could face a very different reality when they file their state returns.

The federal government and most states are waiving taxes on the cancellation of debt program. According to one analysis, roughly seven states—Arkansas, California, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Wisconsin—plan to make debtors pay income taxes ranging from a few hundred dollars to as much as $900, depending on the state.

On this episode of Talking Tax, Bloomberg Tax senior correspondent Michael J. Bologna caught up with Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects at the Tax Foundation, to help sort through some of these potentially complicated state tax issues. He explained which states plan to tax student loan debt cancellation and how taxpayers should account for the benefit.