Underwater Student Borrowers Act

Bill: 114-hr-5617
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Pocan, Mark [D-WI-2]
Introduced: 2016-07-01
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Government lending and loan guarantees

Higher education

Income tax exclusion

Student aid and college costs
Latest action: action_date: 2016-07-01
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Summaries:
action_date: 2016-07-01
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Underwater Student Borrowers Act</b></p> <p>This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the exclusion from gross income of income attributable to the discharge of student loan indebtedness, to: (1) include indebtedness discharged due to income-contingent and income-based repayment plans, the death or disability of the borrower, or the closing of an educational institution; and (2)&nbsp;revise the definition of "student loan" to&nbsp;mean a loan made by any lender, including a loan for the refinancing of an existing loan.</p>

tv_txt: I 114th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 5617 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 1, 2016 Mr. Pocan (for himself, Mr. Nolan , Ms. Wilson of Florida , Mr. Grijalva , Mr. Takano , Mr. McDermott , Ms. Norton , Ms. Moore , Ms. Bonamici , Mr. Sarbanes , Mr. Hinojosa , Mr. Ellison , Mr. McGovern , Mr. DeFazio , Ms. Velázquez , and Mr. Scott of Virginia ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from gross income any discharge of student loan indebtedness.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Underwater Student Borrowers Act . 2. Exclusion from gross income for discharge of student loan indebtedness (a) In general Paragraph (1) of section 108(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows: (1) In general In the case of an individual, gross income does not include any amount which (but for this subsection) would be includible in gross income by reason of the discharge (in whole or in part) of any student loan if such discharge was pursuant to— (A) a provision of such loan under which all or part of the indebtedness of the individual would be discharged if the individual worked for a certain period of time in certain professions for any of a broad class of employers, (B) subsections (d)(1)(D) and (e)(7) of section 455 or section 493C(b)(7) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (relating to income contingent and income-based repayment, respectively), (C) section 437 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, or (D) subsections (c)(1)(F) and (g) of section 464 of the Higher Education Act of 1965. . (b) Student loans Paragraph (2) of section 108(f) of such Code is amended by striking made by— and all that follows and inserting the following: . Such term includes indebtedness used to refinance indebtedness which qualifies as a student loan under the preceding sentence. . (c) Effective date The amendments made by this section shall apply to discharges of indebtedness after the date of the enactment of this Act.