Sources

Federal statutes & regulations

• 34 CFR §685.221 — Income-Based Repayment (IBR)
• 34 CFR §685.209 — Pay As You Earn (PAYE)
• 34 CFR §685.208 — Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR)
• 34 CFR §685.208(a) — 10-Year Standard
• 34 CFR §685.219 — Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
• P.L. 119-21 §3 — Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP)
• P.L. 117-200 — Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act
• IRC §108(f)(5) — Federal exclusion of forgiven student loan amounts

Primary government sources

• StudentAid.gov — official ED borrower portal
• ED.gov press releases & policy clarifications
• IRS.gov — IRC §108(f)(5) and exclusion FAQs
• congress.gov — bill text and legislative history
• CFR.gov — eCFR for current regulatory text

State Departments of Revenue

Each state-level tax-bomb conformity claim cites the state DOR page in force on the verification date. State conformity varies and changes; confirm your own state's treatment with its Department of Revenue before acting.

• States currently decoupled from the federal exclusion: MS, NC, WI, AR, IN (verify with each state DOR)

Editorial review

Every PSLF, tax-bomb, and IDR-formula claim is checked against its primary source — the CFR, U.S. Code, IRC, IRS publication, ED release, or bill text — and carries a last-verified date. We do not yet have a standing credentialed reviewer; where a number cannot be tied to a primary source it is labelled illustrative.