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A comment on 'It's crazy': Chase forgiving all debt owed by its Canada credit card customers. Parent comment

Re:'It's crazy': Chase forgiving all debt owed by its Canada... by dmix on Friday August 09, 2019 @01:08AM (#20651476)
So the idea is the bank gave you a loan then forgave it, so it’s now income? That’s a big leap in logic and sounds evil considering you never consider that when getting a loan, you only expect the internet to accrue.
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Re:'It's crazy': Chase forgiving all debt owed by its Canada... by briandear on Friday August 09, 2019 @01:31AM (#20651579)
It is income. Someone gave you money. Otherwise, why wouldn’t a company “loan” you a higher salary and then just “forgive” the debt? Or, you could set up a company to loan yourself money — the company deducts the “loss” and you don’t pay taxes on the gain.
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Re:'It's crazy': Chase forgiving all debt owed by its Canada... by Retric on Friday August 09, 2019 @07:39AM (#20653349)
The principal is presumably income, however the interest or fees should not be. The IRS will even occasionally cancel debt that’s mostly fines and interest without considering it income.
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Re:'It's crazy': Chase forgiving all debt owed by its Canada... by dmix on Friday August 09, 2019 @02:24AM (#20651765)
Like all laws there should be some context. But I guess you’re right it’s an easy loophole to exploit and the simpler the tax law the better.
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