Wondering Where Your Tax Refund Might Be? Check Your Student Loan Debt

By now millions of taxpayers have already filed their returns and have received their refunds. Still, there are others who are waiting for that check to show up in their account. For some, that wait can be very difficult and even cause a little anxiety. In most cases, there’s no need to worry. Just give it enough time and the IRS should be sending your refund soon. On the other hand, for some people who owe money on their student loans, the news might not be so good.

Several taxpayers are discovering this year that the refund they were expecting to get has instead been allocated for something else: to pay off their student loan debt. While this may come as a surprise to many, the law allows the Department of Education to take your tax refund if your student loan debt is in default. They can do this by using the Treasury Offset Program, which allows federal payments you would have otherwise received, to be taken and used to pay off debts to federal agencies.

However, according to the law, anyone who has a loan in default should first receive a warning that his or her tax refund could be used for paying down that student loan debt. In addition, if you do lose part or all of your refund, you can contest the decision. However, in order to win your protest essentially you have to prove that your student loan is not actually in default.

Posted in

Keys to Empowering Others

  A common characteristic of many good leaders is the ability to delegate responsibility. One way that this can be done is by empowering others with the ability to also lead. Empowering someone else can be an excellent tool to achieve even greater success, both for the company and the individual. So how do you…

Top Tax Tips for Business Owners

  Chances are if you run your own business then you are always looking for ways to get, and stay ahead, especially when it comes to paying your taxes. They are so many different things to track and organize when it comes to business taxes, but keeping a few simple tips in mind can make…

Wealthy Californians Keep Paying More in Taxes

  The tax numbers are in for the state of California and all signs point to the wealthy paying more than their fair share. With tax day now behind us it’s a key time to take a closer look into the real numbers in the Golden state, especially since income taxes account for more than…

Angel Investing: As Easy as 1-2-3

  In my profession I meet with a lot of investors, mainly venture capitalists and angel investors.  When meeting with many of these investors I like to learn their thought process of determining whether or not a company is worth their time and resources. Monty Kersten, Independent Board Member and Angel Investor told me the…