IRS to Deduct Old Student-Loan Debts From Doctors’ Tax Refunds
Debts incurred by doctors who defaulted on government-backed student loans will be deducted from their income tax refunds, the Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday.
In regulations published in the Federal Register, the department authorized the Internal Revenue Service to collect about $49 million in bad debts from more than 1,200 doctors, dentists and others who have failed to repay Health Education Assistance loans.
A total of $11.4 million is owed on such loans, which subsidize the costs of educations in medicine, dentistry, osteopathy, podiatry, public health, pharmacy and health administration.
Also, the department said, doctors, dentists, osteopaths and others who reneged on agreements to perform government service in return for scholarships owe the National Health Service Corps scholarship program $37.6 million.
That program provides scholarships to medical students and others who agree to work in inner-city clinics, rural areas or on Indian reservations after they complete their educations, department officials said.
Those who break the support-for-service agreement are charged three times what the government calculates is the value of their educations.
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