Going to college can be a time of growth and excitement, not to mention set you up for a productive career. But for many graduates, student loans are the college hangover that just won’t go away.

Student loan debt can follow you around for most of your adult life, causing financial stress and impacting your daily decisions. Yes, the Biden Administration has recently made some key changes to help borrowers of federal student loans, including up to $10,000 in debt cancellation (or $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients) for low- and middle-income households. But that may be just a drop in the bucket for borrowers who still owe significantly more than these caps.

While student loan repayments are not tax deductible, the IRS does offer some relief by letting you deduct student loan interest from your federal taxes. No matter how long it takes you to pay off your student loans, if you pay loan interest, you may be eligible for a deduction on your tax return. There is no limit to how many years you can take that deduction.

If you are just learning about this now, and are kicking yourself for not taking this deduction in previous years, there’s good news there as well: you can file an amended tax return to fix any mistakes made on prior returns, and potentially get back an extra refund.

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Payment apps have made it easier than ever to split the bill when you go out with friends, but new rules in the tax code might add some extra complication to apps like Venmo and Zelle.

You can still split the bill with friends without any tax implications, but if you receive $600 or more tagged as “goods and services,” or if you have a business account with a payment processing app, you will receive a Form 1099-K for reporting this income to the Internal Revenue Service on your 2022 income tax return.

If you use multiple payment platforms to receive payments, you may not receive a 1099-K tax form, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to report this income on your taxes. Keep reading to see what rules apply to you, and how this change will affect your payments and taxes. If there is any confusion, you should talk to a tax professional about your specific situation.

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If you intend on leaving assets that need to be distributed to your heirs after you pass—whenever that may be—estate planning is an incredibly valuable endeavor.

This is not something to be ignored until your golden years, particularly if you have minor children. If the unthinkable happens, you want to make absolutely sure your family members will be well cared for.

Making an estate plan gives you a chance to convey your final wishes. Then, the act of estate administration, which is the reconciliation of debts, filing of forms, and distribution of your assets, will happen in accordance with your desires—rather than state law.

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Getting mail from the IRS can be a headache for even the most stalwart of taxpayers. However, a CP2000 notice is a fairly common, auto-generated letter that is typically not too troublesome to resolve. Basically, when the system finds a mismatch between your reported income and the income listed on your tax return, it generates a CP2000 letter to notify you of the discrepancy and provide a proposed solution.

This notice does not mean you are being audited. While one of the most common reasons for an IRS audit is underreporting income, an audit notice is different from a CP2000 notice. For Americans with income under $1 million, the audit rate is less than 1%, so audits don’t happen very often. While it’s a very good idea to enlist the services of a tax lawyer for an audit, you may be able to resolve a CP2000 notice on your own.

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