These Teaching Notes include the questions posed with the case, suggested student response(s), and common student questions or concerns. Other notes about issues related to the case for which an instructor might want to expand their discussions are provided.
A major focus of this case is student loan forgiveness based on a disability and whether a discharged loan is reportable as taxable income. This is a high-profile issue that is receiving much national attention (Green 2020). This case involves multiple tax issues, some of which do not have a clear-cut answer. This provides opportunities for students to utilize judgment based on their research to make recommendations to the taxpayer. Students will need to refer to the Internal Revenue Code, the IRS website, other government websites, tax preparation vendor websites, and the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (https://www.aicpa.org/research/standards/codeofconduct.html) to fully address all the case questions. Questions are...