Your debt consolidation company assures you that several of your creditors have agreed to forgive what you owe them – they’ve decided to write off the debts for good. Sounds terrific right?
BEWARE! There are hidden tax consequences when debts are forgiven by your creditors.
How Does the IRS View Debt Cancellation?
Did your debt consolidation company or credit counseling company explain to you that the IRS views almost all debt cancellations as an increase to your income? You may not have any more money, but because you didn’t have to pay money to a creditor – in the collective mind of the IRS – your gross income increased.
Firefox recommends the PDF Plugin for Mac OS X for viewing PDF documents in your browser.
We can also show you Legal Updates using the Google Viewer; however, you will need to be logged into Google Docs to view them.
Please choose one of the above to proceed!
LOADING PDF: If there are any problems, click here to download the file.
Published In:
Bankruptcy Updates, Tax Law Updates
DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.
© Pew Law Center | Attorney Advertising