# US Student Loans



## Hedda (Jul 18, 2011)

Hi Everyone,
I am new to this site, and I noticed that some of you have given very good and detailed advice to posters regarding U.S. student loans. I am actually living in Ireland, but, as I could not find a separate Ireland forum, I thought I would try here.

In a previous post, someone asked about the possibility of being pursued for outstanding student loan debts in the UK. My question is slightly different--I have been maintaining the payments on my students loans and plan to continue to do so. They are very high, however, and this can at times be difficult. I think that, were I livning and working in the US, that there would be some kind of tax relief on these loans. My question (and I know it is a longshot) is whether, given tax treaties between the two countries) there may be some way of claiming tax relief on my Irish income or even if there are any debt forgiveness possibilities (I work in the public service sector, though obviously not in the US.)

Any thoughts on this question would be greatly appreciated! 
Best Regards,
Hedda


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Maybe someone will have an idea for you, but given the general tenor of the tax treaties in effect, what normally happens is that any tax relief on something like student loans would be available only on your US returns - and thus worthwhile only if you have US income to report that is subject to US taxes (i.e. is not excludable on form 2555). 
Cheers,
Bev


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## mandi311 (Apr 7, 2010)

If your loans are government loans, you can check out IBR which can make your payments around 10% of your income (or less, even 0 if you make very little). Also you might qualify for PSLF for working in a public service job. If you continue working in a public service job after ten years of qualifying payments your debt would be forgiven. I've read that it doesn't matter if your job is overseas it just has to be qualified as a non-profit. Anyway it's worth checking into.

IBRinfo :: What are these programs?


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## Hedda (Jul 18, 2011)

Thanks very much for your replies--that has been very helpful.


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