As a general rule, any debt cancelled or forgiven by a creditor must be added to the individual’s income for tax purposes. At the end of the year, a creditor who cancels of forgives a debt must send an IRS Form 1099-c to the Internal Revenue Service and to the taxpayer. Called “cancellation of debt” by the IRS, a cancelled or forgiven debt is no longer borrowed money that will be repaid; it is income that the taxpayer must claim on his or her tax return.
For example, say you borrow $10,000 and default on the loan after paying back $2,000. If the lender is unable to collect the remaining debt from you, there is a cancellation of debt of $8,000, which is generally taxable income to you. Cancelled debts can arise from charged off loans, debt repayment plans, foreclosures, and short sales.
After the housing bubble burst and many Americans lost their homes, Congress enacted the Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007. The Act generally allowed taxpayers to exclude income from a cancelled or forgiven debt after they lost their homes. In other words, the Act meant that taxpayers did not have to pay taxes on any loan deficiency if the home was lost to foreclosure or sold in a short sale.
The Act was intended as short-term relief to help taxpayers avoid high tax debt. It was initially set to run until the end of 2009, but was extended for another three years, then extended again to the end of 2013. It will now expire on December 31, 2013. The Washington Post reports that it is unlikely that Congress will extend this relief again.
This is very troubling news to homeowners still struggling to pay or modify underwater homes. Without this relief, many individuals who lose their homes to foreclosure may be charged huge tax bills many months or even years after foreclosure. Since new tax debts are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, individuals will now suffer the injury of tax debt on top of the insult of losing a home. A large non-dischargeable tax debt can make it impossible to financially recover for many years.
Some states avoid this imputed income problem by prohibiting the lender from assessing a deficiency against a foreclosed home. However, most states do not have this provision, and some only protect certain home deficiencies (such as from a primary home mortgage) and not others (such as a deficiency from a home equity line of credit).
If you are facing a foreclosure sale on your property, discuss your options with an experienced bankruptcy attorney. Filing bankruptcy before foreclosure can avoid the nightmare of cancellation of debt income. Your bankruptcy attorney can review your case and offer a legal solution to your financial problems. For more information and a free consultation contact the experienced attorneys at Fears Nachawati by calling 1.866.705.7584 or sending an email to fears@fnlawfirm.com.