Commencement Speaker's Surprise Announcement - Will Pay Off Class of 2019's Loans!

[jym626]

Smith set up a grant, and per this article https://beta.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/05/21/robert-smith-will-pay-morehouse-graduates-student-loans-who-will-pay-tax-bill/?outputType=amp

As of this year, donors are allowed to give up to $15,000 annually to an individual without triggering the reporting of the gift to the IRS. If you go over this amount, you are generally required to file a gift tax return (Form 709). But that doesn’t mean you’ll owe taxes on the gift. This is because the lifetime gift allowance right now is $11.4 million per individual. Double that for married couples…

The tax code does provide an exception to the gift rule for money paid directly to a qualifying educational institution for tuition, said Tyler Mickey, a certified public accountant and member of the American Institute of CPAs.
But “generally, the actual loan amounts for prior periods would not qualify for the exception,” Mickey said.