Hi everyone,

I’m new on the forum and I have a question about IBR and whether my husband and I need to amend our tax return.

The story—In 2014, my husband I made more money than we did in 2013. My IBR was calculated based on my very low 2013 income. In 2014, my husband and I filed a joint tax return and, when I submitted documentation to have my IBR payment recalculated, I submitted our 2014 tax return as well as pay stubs for myself and my husband.

The problem is, my monthly payment has gone up from $95 per month to over $900 per month, which i seriously cannot afford (and no, our income certainly hasn’t increased 10x’s what it was in 2013 haha).

I called FedLoan twice today. The first person I spoke with said that my husband and I would need to refile our 2014 tax returns to file Married Filing Separately, which would remove his income from the equation and bring my monthly IBR payment down to like $200, but which would likely mean we’d owe money to the IRS.

The second person I spoke with said that amending the 2014 return isn’t necessary, and that I would just need to resubmit the IDR application, leaving off my spouse’s income altogether, and only providing my current pay stubs as proof of income. She said we’d have to file Married Filing Separately in 2015, but we would not have to amend our 2014 return.

Obviously, I want very much to believe the second person I spoke with, and she seemed more confident in her answers than the first person, but I’m concerned because they each told me such different things. I tried calling back and third time to try to compare these two answers, but their call center is closed now. Does anyone know which of these responses is correct?

Thank you!

What was the outcome of this?  Did you have to amend any returns?