Is it accurate to say that I can file jointly with my spouse and not be concerned with our federal tax return to be taken due to student debt as it has in the past?

[clint-e-wheeler4]

nothing to add, its a straight forward question i thought

[BillM223]

If I understand your situation, the student debt will normally be taken from your joint refund. This may be OK with you if you want to pay down the debt more quickly. Some taxpayers want the spouse without the debt to get "their" refund back, so they file an Injured Spouse form, so that the spouse without the debt gets more of the refund. Please see this IRS page on Injured Spouse.

Inside TurboTax, to claim Injured Spouse, do a Search (upper right) for injured spouse and click on the jump-to link (Mac users must find injured spouse in the Topics list). Note: just type in injured spouse and ignore all the suggested search terms.

[Carl]

Is it accurate to say that I can file jointly with my spouse and not be concerned with our federal tax return to be taken due to student debt as it has been in the past?

No, it is not accurate to say that. If either tax filer has student loans and they are behind on payments, the entire refund (if any) will be taken. If the spouse that is not legally liable for the debt files an Injured Spouse form (included in the TurboTax program) then that may (or may not) relieve the spouse of their part of the refund being taken.