PSLF calculator
PSLF cancels whatever is left after 120 qualifying payments, tax free. This estimates what that balance would be for you.
Estimates, not financial advice. Check anything that matters with your loan servicer before you act.
What determines the value
PSLF is worth whatever is left at your 120th qualifying payment. That figure is not your current balance, and it is not a fixed amount. It depends on three things:
- How much you pay in the meantime, which on an income-driven plan is set by your income rather than your balance
- How many payments you have already made
- What happens to the balance in between, which depends on the plan
The pattern that produces the largest forgiveness is a large balance against a modest public-service income, because income-driven payments stay small while the clock runs. The pattern that produces the smallest is a small balance against a good income, where the loan is nearly repaid by payment 120 and little remains to forgive.
The tax-free difference
PSLF forgiveness is not federally taxable. Income-driven forgiveness has been federally taxable since 1 January 2026, when the American Rescue Plan exclusion expired.
That gap is larger than it sounds. A $120,000 discharge under RAP could carry a federal and state tax bill in the tens of thousands, payable in the year it lands. The same discharge under PSLF carries none. The calculator applies this difference rather than treating all forgiveness alike, which is what most tools do.
Check that you are actually earning credit
A payment counts only if it is made under a qualifying repayment plan while working full time for a qualifying employer. RAP, IBR, PAYE, ICR and the ten-year Standard plan qualify.
Tiered Standard does not qualify above a $25,000 balance, because qualifying plans must charge at least the ten-year standard amount and Tiered Standard runs ten years only below that. It is also the plan a borrower who never chose one is placed on.
So it is entirely possible to work for a qualifying employer, pay on time for years, and accrue nothing. If that is your situation, changing plan fixes it going forward, and it can be done today.
Get your real payment count
The number you enter above matters a great deal, and it should be retrieved rather than estimated. Your servicer holds the official count and it is visible in your Federal Student Aid account.
If there are periods of qualifying employment you have never certified, submit a PSLF form for them. Payments do not count until the employment covering them has been certified, so uncertified periods can be sitting there unrecorded.
Do this before considering consolidation. Consolidating on or after 1 September 2024 recalculates the count as a balance-weighted average of the loans consolidated, and you want that computed from complete figures.
What refinancing does to this
It ends it. Private loans cannot qualify, payments already made cannot be transferred, and there is no route back into the federal system at any price. A borrower a hundred payments in who refinances is not twenty payments from forgiveness. They are at zero.
Run the comparison above and the forfeiture ledger shows what that is worth in today's money, discounted from the month it would have arrived.
Related: PSLF against a specific refinance offer andwhy the vacated 2025 employer rule does not affect you.
Common questions
How do I know how many PSLF payments I have made?
Your servicer holds the official count and it is visible through your Federal Student Aid account. Submit a PSLF form to certify employment for any period not yet certified, because a payment only counts once the employment covering it has been certified. Do not estimate this figure if you can retrieve it.
Which repayment plans count toward PSLF?
RAP, IBR, PAYE, ICR and the ten-year Standard plan all qualify, as does any other plan whose monthly payment is at least the ten-year standard amount. The Tiered Standard plan therefore qualifies only when your balance is under $25,000. Graduated and Extended plans generally do not qualify.
Does consolidating reset my PSLF count?
Not to zero, but it recalculates it. Since 1 September 2024 the count on a consolidation loan is the weighted average of the qualifying payments on the Direct Loans it repaid, weighted by balance. Certify all qualifying employment before consolidating so the average is computed from complete counts.
Is PSLF forgiveness taxable?
Not at the federal level. This is a meaningful difference from income-driven forgiveness, which became federally taxable on 1 January 2026. A dollar forgiven under PSLF is worth more than a dollar forgiven under RAP or IBR.