Student Loan Match Impact

The SECURE Act 2.0 created a new employment benefit option that allows employers to make matching contributions to employee retirement accounts based on the employee’s student loan payments, rather than retirement contributions. The employer match is only permitted when the employee makes “qualified” student loan payments, or QSLPs. QSLPs must be related to qualified higher education expenses (1) incurred for the employee, the employee's spouse or dependents, (2) paid or incurred within a reasonable period of time before or after the indebtedness is incurred, and (3) attributable to education furnished during a period during which the recipient was an eligible student.

We asked two professors and authors of ALM’s Tax Facts with opposing political viewpoints to share their opinions about the impact of the student loan matching provision.

Below is a summary of the debate that ensued between the two professors.