Federal IDR Payment + Forgiveness Calculator
Enter your AGI, household, balance, rate, and plan. The calculator computes your monthly IDR payment per the plan's formula (with the 10-year-standard cap where applicable), projects your balance forward to the forgiveness clock, and applies federal tax to the forgiven amount under IRC §108(f)(5) post-2025 (PSLF is not modeled here — see the dedicated forgiveness calculator).
Results
How IDR works in 2026
Federal income-driven repayment (IDR) caps your monthly student-loan payment at a percentage of your discretionary income (or for RAP, a tiered percentage of your full AGI). Any remaining balance after the plan's clock — 20 years for IBR-new/PAYE, 25 years for IBR-old/ICR, 30 years for RAP — is federally forgiven. The five plans still in operation in 2026 are governed by HEA §493C (IBR), HEA §455(d) (PAYE/ICR), and HEA §493D (RAP, created by OBBBA Pub. L. 119-21 §82001 after the Eighth Circuit struck down SAVE in Missouri v. Biden Feb 2025). PAYE has been closed to new borrowers since July 2024; RAP becomes the only IDR option for new Direct Loan borrowers on or after July 1, 2026.
Discretionary income — IBR / PAYE / ICR
For IBR and PAYE, discretionary income is your AGI minus 150% of the HHS Federal Poverty Level for your family size. For ICR it is AGI minus 100% of FPL. The 2026 contiguous-48 FPL (per HHS Federal Register Jan 17 2026) is $15,650 for family of one, $21,150 for two, $26,650 for three, $32,150 for four, plus $5,500 per additional family member. So a single borrower with $50,000 AGI on IBR-new has discretionary = $50,000 − $23,475 = $26,525, monthly payment = 10% × $26,525 ÷ 12 = $221.04. IBR and PAYE both cap the monthly payment at the 10-year standard amortization; ICR uses a 12-year standard cap with an income-percentage adjustment.
RAP — the new tiered formula
RAP per OBBBA §82001 uses a flat tier of full AGI: 1% on AGI up to $10,000, 2% from $10,001-$20,000, scaling +1 percentage point per $10,000 bracket through 9% from $80,001-$90,000, then 10% above $90,000. Divide annual by 12, subtract $50 per tax dependent (children, not spouses), with a $10/month floor. RAP also includes a no-negative-amortization mechanic: any monthly interest in excess of the borrower's payment is waived rather than capitalized — so when your RAP payment is below monthly interest, your balance freezes at its starting value and the full starting balance is what gets discharged at month 360 (rather than ballooning to multiples of that under straight amortization). This calculator implements the no-neg-amort branch as of the 2026-06-30 evening update; the IBR / PAYE / ICR branches still capitalize unpaid interest as those plans do under HEA §455(d)(5).
Tax treatment — §108(f)(5) post-2025 sunset
- IDR forgiveness (IBR / PAYE / ICR / RAP) — federally taxable starting tax year 2026. The ARPA-era IRC §108(f)(5) exclusion sunset on December 31 2025, and OBBBA Pub. L. 119-21 (signed July 4 2025) did not extend it. A $200,000 discharge on a $90,000 income produces roughly $44,000–$64,000 in federal tax depending on filing status.
- PSLF forgiveness — separately tax-free under IRC §108(f)(1), in effect since 1984. PSLF is not modeled in this calculator — use the dedicated student loan forgiveness calculator for PSLF.
- State conformity — most states conform to the federal treatment; Mississippi is the most-cited example of a non-conforming state. Verify your state treatment for any expected discharge.
Related calculators
- Student loan calculator — straight amortization for standard 10-year repayment
- Student loan forgiveness calculator — PSLF, IBR, PAYE, RAP discharge value + tax
- Student loan interest deduction calculator — IRC §221 above-the-line federal tax savings
- Student loan refinance calculator — federal-to-private refinance break-even
- Parent PLUS loan calculator — federal Parent PLUS amortization
- Grad PLUS loan calculator — federal Grad PLUS amortization
- Student loan snowball calculator — multi-loan payoff acceleration
Related reading
- How student loan repayment actually works in 2026 — full federal-loan landscape post-OBBBA with all five IDR plans and worked case studies
- How PSLF actually works in 2026 — deep-dive on the four pillars + OBBBA narrowing + Buyback + tax treatment
- How to file taxes online in 2026 — online filing context for IDR forgiveness tax year
Frequently asked questions
What does this calculator compute?
It computes your monthly payment under any of the five federal income-driven repayment (IDR) plans available in 2026 — IBR (new, post-July-2014 borrowers), IBR (old, pre-July-2014 borrowers), PAYE (closed to new borrowers as of July 2024), ICR, and the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) created by OBBBA Pub. L. 119-21 §82001. It also projects the loan balance forward over the plan's forgiveness clock (20-30 years depending on plan), estimates the federally-forgiven amount at the end of that clock, and applies federal tax to the forgiven amount for IDR plans in tax year 2026 and later because OBBBA did not extend the IRC §108(f)(5) ARPA exclusion that sunset on December 31 2025. Discretionary income for IBR/PAYE is AGI minus 150% of the HHS Federal Poverty Level for your family size; for ICR it is AGI minus 100% of FPL; for RAP it is the new tiered AGI table from 1% under $10,000 to 10% above $90,000.
How is discretionary income defined in 2026?
Discretionary income for IBR and PAYE is your AGI minus 150% of the HHS Federal Poverty Level for your family size and state. For ICR it is your AGI minus 100% of FPL. For 2026 the contiguous-48 FPL is $15,650 for a family of one, $21,150 for two, $26,650 for three, $32,150 for four, plus $5,500 per additional family member, per the HHS Poverty Guidelines published in the Federal Register on January 17 2026. So a single borrower with $50,000 AGI on IBR has discretionary income of $50,000 − ($15,650 × 1.5) = $26,525, and their IBR-new monthly payment is 10% × $26,525 ÷ 12 = $221.04. RAP uses a different formula — a flat tier percentage of full AGI rather than discretionary income.
What is the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP)?
RAP is the income-driven repayment plan created by OBBBA Pub. L. 119-21 §82001, replacing SAVE which the Eighth Circuit struck down in Missouri v. Biden in February 2025. RAP becomes the only IDR option for new Direct Loan borrowers on or after July 1 2026. RAP uses a tiered AGI formula: 1% of AGI up to $10,000, 2% of AGI from $10,001-$20,000, scaling up by 1 percentage point per $10,000 bracket through 9% from $80,001-$90,000, then 10% above $90,000 — divided by 12, minus $50 per tax dependent (children, not spouses, per OBBBA §82001), with a $10 monthly floor. RAP has a 30-year (360-month) forgiveness clock and includes a no-negative-amortization mechanic: unpaid interest each month is waived rather than capitalized. This calculator implements the no-neg-amort branch — when your RAP payment is below monthly interest, your balance freezes at its starting value (so the full starting balance is what gets discharged at month 360, not an exponentially-grown amount).
What is the 10-year-standard payment cap?
IBR and PAYE both cap your monthly payment at what you would have paid under the standard 10-year amortization at the time you entered the plan. If your AGI is high enough that 10% (or 15% for IBR-old) of discretionary income exceeds the standard 10-year payment, you pay the lower standard amount. ICR uses a similar but different cap based on a 12-year amortization with an income-percentage adjustment. RAP does not have a standard-payment cap. The cap means high earners with small balances generally do not benefit from IBR or PAYE — the payment they would pay anyway under the standard plan is lower than the IDR formula payment, and they receive no forgiveness because the loan amortizes within the 10-year window.
Is IDR forgiveness taxable in 2026?
Yes — IDR forgiveness under IBR, PAYE, ICR, and RAP is federally taxable in tax year 2026 and later. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 added IRC §108(f)(5), which temporarily excluded most types of student-loan discharge from gross income through tax year 2025. OBBBA Pub. L. 119-21 (signed July 4 2025) did not extend that exclusion, so it sunset on December 31 2025. Beginning tax year 2026, federally forgiven IDR balances are treated as ordinary federal taxable income in the year forgiven. PSLF discharges remain tax-free because they sit under the permanent IRC §108(f)(1) exclusion (in effect since 1984), not the expired §108(f)(5). State conformity varies — most states conform to the federal treatment but a few do not, so verify your state.