What happens when forgiven student debt becomes taxable income again? That’s the “tax bomb” we’re breaking down this week — why it’s coming back, who could get caught by surprise and what you can actually do about it (even if Congress keeps punting the ball down the road). We’ll get into 20- and 25-year forgiveness for private-sector folks, insolvency exclusions and why the whole mess falls hardest on servicers and borrowers.

We also talk about the real-world impact of recent rule changes, state-level quirks and my predictions for what might (and might not) change after 2026.

Key moments:

(00:42) Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) stays tax-free

(02:59) Who needs to worry about the tax bomb

(13:12) Using insolvency exclusions to lower (or wipe out) your student loan tax bill

(16:15) Why we expect Congress to make student loan forgiveness permanently tax-free in the future

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