How is this calculated?
PSLF requires 120 qualifying monthly payments while you work full-time for a qualifying employer. Your remaining months is simply 120 − payments_already_made, and your projected forgiveness date is today plus that many months.
The balance at forgiveness is an amortization simulation: each month, interest accrues on your current balance at rate / 12, you apply your monthly payment, and the leftover (positive or negative) updates the balance. We run that for the remaining months and report whatever balance is left — which, for income-driven repayment plans, is often more than the original loan because the payment doesn't cover interest. That's the entire point of PSLF: the inflated balance gets wiped clean.
The tax-free benefit is the forgiven balance times your marginal federal tax rate — i.e., the additional federal income tax you would have paid if PSLF weren't tax-exempt. PSLF is explicitly excluded from federal taxable income, so this benefit is real money in your pocket compared to taxable IDR forgiveness.
What this calculator can't do
- Validate your employer. Whether your job qualifies is determined by IRS classification and the PSLF Employment Certification Form. Use studentaid.gov.
- Track on-time payments. Each individual payment must hit the servicer within 15 days of its due date to count. We assume you're paying on time.
- Model IDR payment changes. If you're on PAYE / SAVE / IBR / ICR, your monthly payment recalculates yearly with your AGI. We use a single flat payment.
- Account for litigation. SAVE has been enjoined in 2024-2025; eligibility rules have shifted multiple times. The underlying 120-payment statute is stable, but specifics around IDR plans and consolidation can change.