No, I have not heard of that.
If you are the spouse of a person whose tax return is taken for student loan debt, you might be able to get a portion of your refund by filing Form 8379. See How do I file Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation?
If these are your student loans, your best option is to get your student loans out of default. To do that, you have a few options
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Consolidate your loans into the Direct Loan program. If you are eligible for this consolidation, all your loans would be bundled up into one new loan, likely with a new federal lender. When your loan consolidation is complete, your new loan will be out of default and in good standing. During this consolidation, you are also able to choose a payment plan that is affordable for you. The Pay As You Earn(PAYE) and Income-Based Repayment Plan(IBR) both can offer payments as low as $0.00 per month depending on your income and family size. The consolidation process can take up to 30-90 days from when first filed, so it’s important to start this process as soon as you can.
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Rehabilitate your loans with your current lender. If you and your lender can agree on a reasonable and affordable payment plan, you can start to make payments under this rehabilitation to get your loans back into good standing. Typically a rehab will take nine months, and any late payments will restart your recovery period. After the rehabilitation is completed, you will likely be back to having to make larger payments on your student loans, but you will no longer be in default or be under threat of a tax offset or wage garnishment.
- Repay your defaulted student loans in full. If your loan balance is an amount that you can pay off in full, this is an option as well. Unfortunately, this is rare, and most borrowers must select to consolidate their loans, or enter a rehabilitation on their loans.
