Secure Act and 529 Use for Loan Repayments

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Carl53
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Secure Act and 529 Use for Loan Repayments

Post by Carl53 »

We had a recent lengthy thread on the SECURE act and several noted contemplated being able to take advantage of creating 529s for themselves and paying off 10K in student loans.

The text of the SECURE act on this is as follows.
SEC. 302. EXPANSION OF SECTION 529 PLANS.
(a) Distributions For Certain Expenses Associated With Registered Apprenticeship Programs.—Section 529(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:


“(8) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN EXPENSES ASSOCIATED WITH REGISTERED APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS.—Any reference in this subsection to the term ‘qualified higher education expense’ shall include a reference to expenses for fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for the participation of a designated beneficiary in an apprenticeship program registered and certified with the Secretary of Labor under section 1 of the National Apprenticeship Act (29 U.S.C. 50).”.

(b) Distributions For Qualified Education Loan Repayments.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 529(c) of such Code, as amended by subsection (a), is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:


“(9) TREATMENT OF QUALIFIED EDUCATION LOAN REPAYMENTS.—

“(A) IN GENERAL.—Any reference in this subsection to the term ‘qualified higher education expense’ shall include a reference to amounts paid as principal or interest on any qualified education loan (as defined in section 221(d)) of the designated beneficiary or a sibling of the designated beneficiary.

“(B) LIMITATION.—The amount of distributions treated as a qualified higher education expense under this paragraph with respect to the loans of any individual shall not exceed $10,000 (reduced by the amount of distributions so treated for all prior taxable years).

“(C) SPECIAL RULES FOR SIBLINGS OF THE DESIGNATED BENEFICIARY.—

“(i) SEPARATE ACCOUNTING.—For purposes of subparagraph (B) and subsection (d), amounts treated as a qualified higher education expense with respect to the loans of a sibling of the designated beneficiary shall be taken into account with respect to such sibling and not with respect to such designated beneficiary.

“(ii) SIBLING DEFINED.—For purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘sibling’ means an individual who bears a relationship to the designated beneficiary which is described in section 152(d)(2)(B).”.

(2) COORDINATION WITH DEDUCTION FOR STUDENT LOAN INTEREST.—Section 221(e)(1) of such Code is amended by adding at the end the following: “The deduction otherwise allowable under subsection (a) (prior to the application of subsection (b)) to the taxpayer for any taxable year shall be reduced (but not below zero) by so much of the distributions treated as a qualified higher education expense under section 529(c)(9) with respect to loans of the taxpayer as would be includible in gross income under section 529(c)(3)(A) for such taxable year but for such treatment.”.

(c) Effective Date.—The amendments made by this section shall apply to distributions made after December 31, 2018.
I'm thinking that the $10,000 lifetime limit is per individual not per 529 plan beneficiary. One beneficiary could be the beneficiary of multiple 529 accounts. If the limit was per plan beneficiary, they could use $10k per a plan set up by each grandparent, parent etc. Other scenarios involve the sibling benefit. What if each sibling had were beneficiary of their own plan that had excess funds? Could $10k be used out of each plan for the beneficiary as well as each sibling. If their were a total of three siblings, could they benefit from $10k from their own plan and $10k from each other two siblings plan? Surely not, but maybe. What do BHs think?
BanquetBeer
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Re: Secure Act and 529 Use for Loan Repayments

Post by BanquetBeer »

Would be interesting to find out more info on this. Could get financial aid for 4 years now and then pay off any loans with 529 (since distributions from 529 often cut financial aid)... now I just need to work on being broke so my kids can qualify for financial aid in the first place!
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southerndoc
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Re: Secure Act and 529 Use for Loan Repayments

Post by southerndoc »

Could I establish a 529 plan for myself, take my state deduction, and then pay some of my student loans? I'm above the income limit to deduct from taxes any interest on my student loan.
fujiters
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Re: Secure Act and 529 Use for Loan Repayments

Post by fujiters »

southerndoc wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 10:31 pm Could I establish a 529 plan for myself, take my state deduction, and then pay some of my student loans? I'm above the income limit to deduct from taxes any interest on my student loan.
Looks like yes to me for up to $10k of your loans.
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increment
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Re: Secure Act and 529 Use for Loan Repayments

Post by increment »

southerndoc wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 10:31 pm Could I establish a 529 plan for myself, take my state deduction, and then pay some of my student loans? I'm above the income limit to deduct from taxes any interest on my student loan.
You may want to check whether your state may require recapture of that deduction then. I noticed that the New York Direct 529 website warns about these new uses of 529 accounts: "It has not yet been determined whether these types of withdrawals will have New York State income tax consequences."
flyfishers83
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Re: Secure Act and 529 Use for Loan Repayments

Post by flyfishers83 »

Check with your plan to see if loan repayment would be considered a qualifying withdrawal. I suspect that most have not yet made a determination. Missouri MOST says on their website that they are evaluating. I was going to start a 529 anyway, but will probably go ahead and fund two this year with $20k. If we can use it, we’ll do that and take the $800 state income tax deduction, repay ourselves for loan payments this year and then roll right back into the 529 next year.
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