My student loans were forgiven but I still owe money to the government

Hey guys, I'm a regular lurker of r/studentloans and r/StudentLoanForgiveness (the new one). People are posting their debt forgiveness forms and history of payments. So I went through my accounts and noticed that I have a negative amount of student loans. I have no car loans, credit card loans, or house loans. I'm self employed and have been paying my taxes in time. But I still owe the government money. <br><br>So I called the IRS and they told me that I owe money because I got a huge tax refund of about 20,000 because I got accepted for llm. When they accepted me for llm, they said it would extend my loan payments by 2-3 years and forgive the amount that I delayed paying. I have no payments due anymore because my amount was fully forgiven and in fact I now have a negative amount. <br><br>The IRS told me that they want me to pay that amount back because I got it fraudulently. I told them that I got llm forgiveness and I don't have to pay that money back. They said, fine, you prove to us that you don't need to pay it and I said I don't have proof that this amount is forgiven. He said to write a letter to them stating that you owe money to the government because of llm forgiveness and they would review it and get back to me. <br><br>I was surprised that getting my loans forgiven meant I was essentially in debt to the government. I thought I'd have more money to spend but I owe them that much money all at once. I don't know if anyone has run into the same situation. I thought it would be a good discussion to have.