student loans and tax returns

Long story short, my fiancé was in default with his student loans. For as long as we've been together (4 years) he has never gotten a tax return back because they take it because of his student loans..he is now in a rehabilitation program with the us dept of education and is paying close to $100 a month on his loans. The us department of education is extremely sketchy though honestly because any time he asks for proof to be mailed of what he owes, etc they give him the run around. He does have receipts of every time he's made his payments though which is good. Does this mean he may actually get a tax refund back this year? We are hoping so for baby planning but I won't hold my breath..just seeing if anyone may have any knowledge about this.