With the Obama administration and private lenders actively considering mortgage principal-reduction programs to help financially distressed homeowners, the Internal Revenue Service has issued a new advisory to taxpayers who receive -- or seek to receive -- such assistance. The IRS gets involved in mortgage principal write-downs because the federal tax code generally treats any forgiveness of debt by a creditor in excess of $600 as ordinary taxable income to the recipient.

However, ...

The US Treasury Department, as it continues to revamp the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), announced an initiative to encourage principal write-downs.

The principal reduction plan is one of the changes to HAMP, to be implemented in coming months.

The changes will encourage servicers to write-down a portion of mortgage debt as part of a HAMP modification, allow more borrowers to qualify for modification and help borrowers move into more affordable housing when modification is ...