The IRS announced in Rev. Proc. 2017-24 that creditors of federal student loans made to former students of American Career Institutes, Inc. (ACI) that were discharged under the Department of Education’s “Defense to Repayment” or “Closed School” discharge processes need not file or furnish a Form 1099-C reporting the loan discharge.  Former ACI students whose loans were discharged do not need include in income the amount of the loans discharged.  Only the federal loans discharged under one of the two named processes are subject to the relief. Two years ago, in Rev. Proc. 2015-57, the IRS provided the same income exclusion under the same conditions to former students defrauded by Corinthian Colleges, Inc.  However, unlike Rev. Proc. 2017-24, Rev. Proc. 2015-57 did not alleviate the information reporting obligations under Code section 6050P for the creditors of those loans.  Rev. Proc. 2017-24 amends the earlier revenue procedure to eliminate the reporting requirement for loans made to former Corinthian College students whose loans were discharged.  Thus, these creditors need not file Forms 1099-C with the IRS or furnish payee statements regarding the loan discharges. Under the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), the Closed School discharge process allows DOE to discharge a Federal student loan obtained by a student, or by a parent on behalf of a student, who was attending a school at the time it closed or who withdrew from the school within a certain period before the closing date.  Federal student loans for this purpose include Federal Family Education Loans, Federal Perkins Loans, and Federal Director Loans.  The HEA excludes from income the amount of these loans discharged under the Closed School discharge process. Under the Defense to Repayment discharge process, DOE must discharge a Federal Direct Loan if the borrower establishes, as a defense against repayment, that a school’s actions would give rise to a cause of action against the school under applicable state law.  Federal Family Education Loans can also be discharged under this process if certain other requirements are met.  Although the HEA does not exclude from income the amount of loans discharged under this process, two other authorities are relevant.  First, a common law tax principle is that a debt that is reduced due to a legal infirmity relating back to the original sale transaction (e.g., fraud) is not income to the extent of the debt reduction.  Second, under Code section 108(a)(1)(B), a taxpayer may exclude from income a discharge of indebtedness to the extent the taxpayer is insolvent.  The Treasury and IRS concluded that all or most borrowers who took out Federal student loans to attend ACI-owned schools are eligible for one or both of these exclusions.

The information contained in this communication is not intended as legal advice or as an opinion on specific facts. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, a lawyer-client relationship. For more information, please contact one of the senders or your existing Miller & Chevalier lawyer contact. The invitation to contact the firm and its lawyers is not to be construed as a solicitation for legal work. Any new lawyer-client relationship will be confirmed in writing.

This, and related communications, are protected by copyright laws and treaties. You may make a single copy for personal use. You may make copies for others, but not for commercial purposes. If you give a copy to anyone else, it must be in its original, unmodified form, and must include all attributions of authorship, copyright notices, and republication notices. Except as described above, it is unlawful to copy, republish, redistribute, and/or alter this presentation without prior written consent of the copyright holder.