TAX Returns

[wooisme]

how many of you under the new bankruptcy laws have had to turn in your future paystubs or tax returns? I'm just curious if everyone has had to do this or if it's just at the disgression of the trustee.......and when were you notified to turn them in.

[lrprn]

how many of you under the new bankruptcy laws have had to turn in your future paystubs or tax returns? I'm just curious if everyone has had to do this or if it's just at the disgression of the trustee.......and when were you notified to turn them in.

The current bk law says nothing about tax returns or tax refunds during Ch 13, so each trustee can make whatever he/she thinks is the right interpretation of the bk law's intent.

Trustees are all over the board from never wanting to see your tax return to demanding them each year on threat of dismissal. Most trustees will want your tax returns each year to look for significant increases in income or to see how much of a tax refund you get.

Our Ch 13 trustee wants our tax returns each year and allows us to keep any refund up to $2,000. Any amount over $2K our trustee takes to distribute to our creditors.

We found out about turning in our tax returns each year and the $2K refund limit from a letter our trustee sent us after our first confirmation hearing.

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

Awfully generous of your Trustee IRPRN. My Trustee was only going to give me back $250, anything above that was his greedy hands to keep. I don't get it, you earned it why do they have a right to take it! Its so so so unfair. Ahhh well, he wasn't touching any of mine since I always owed the IRS. The Trustee won't remind you of anything, it will be your responsibility of anything they may request.

Best to you, Catchmeifyoucan

[wooisme]

well, i'm self employed 1099 i pay in all my taxes which i send proof every quarter to the trustee that i do so but i also have a lot and i mean a lot of deductible business expenses that come off what i make...........also in our plan, we pay an additional $3k a year (250 amonth) so we can keep our refunds at tax time and my husband gets a $5k bonus that we pay for to keep, (416 a month) all of that was included in our plan so we could keep refunds and my husband's bonus..........

I have not heard anything about producing tax returns from trustee..........in the booklet we got it only said you had to file them or you would be up for dismissal and then during the life time of the plan if the trustee asks for it you need to have copies of that and paystubs for the life time of the plan. so who knows! I'm not going to worry about it.

[aa06a47]

Awfully generous of your Trustee IRPRN. My Trustee was only going to give me back $250, anything above that was his greedy hands to keep. I don't get it, you earned it why do they have a right to take it! Its so so so unfair. Ahhh well, he wasn't touching any of mine since I always owed the IRS. The Trustee won't remind you of anything, it will be your responsibility of anything they may request.

Best to you, Catchmeifyoucan

The trustee's belief is that your monthly payments was calculated on actual pay stubs. Therefore, if your over withholding and get a large refund, it is there money to keep. I paid them alot the first year on tax refund...changed my deductions this year (hope I don't end up oweing money).

[qwertysue]

I've emailed our attorney on exactly how we go about submitting our returns to the trustee.

A contingency of our plan is that all returns must be turned over to the trustee...no biggie as we've had to really work the deductions to get a refund. This year we should be just about even and the trustee may get 100 bucks, if that.

[wooisme]

well, i didn't have to send in 2006.....I was not asked to. On my confirmed plan it says nothing about turning in tax returns or notifying them of increased wages......the only thing it says is that we cannot sell, purchase, refinance personal property in excess of $5,000

We pay in our plan an extra $250 per month to keep income tax returns of up to $3,000

In the handbook the trustee gave us at the 341 meeting. it does not say to turn in tax returns every year unless asked to and no where in his book does it address increased income at ALL. it doesn't say to report it, the only thing they address about your job is if the address is right or if you change jobs.

I am not just going to turn over information unless this man asks for it.

If i'm suppose to turn in tax returns every year and if i'm suppose to notify of increased wages then they need to redo their books and specify this...............in other words how in the world would a person know to do this?

[nervousnellie]

Same here

Nothing in our book mentioned increased income or turning in tax returns either. I remember telling the Atty. when we filed I would be returning to work in a month.I'm a seasonal Tax Preparer and he said he didn't need to know that either.
In my opinion the BK laws should state ALL Trustees will follow the same rules,and a complete copy of those rules should be made available to ALL FILERS.We follow the same IRS , State and Local rules and laws for Everyone when we prepare taxes.Can you imagine the chaos if every IRS,State and Local examiner had the authority to do what they wanted?

[lrprn]

In my opinion the BK laws should state ALL Trustees will follow the same rules,and a complete copy of those rules should be made available to ALL FILERS. ... Can you imagine the chaos if every IRS,State and Local examiner had the authority to do what they wanted?

Welcome to states' rights. It's a long and glorious tradition in our country that does set up some people to be treated unequally in bankruptcy depending on where they live. Write your congressional reps. This won't change unless the law changes.

[TiredandWeary]

Well, I'm sad to say that in our Chap. 13 case, the trustee sent us a letter printed on bright pink paper and written in VERY bold and big letter stating that all tax returns must be submitted to the trustee by May 1st. Also, any tax refund checks must also be forwarded directly to the trustee. We knew about this when we went to our 341 hearing/meeting and we actually had to sign a piece of paper at that meeting stating that they informed us that we are required to turn in all tax returns to the trustee each year while in the BK.

We received a check for a refund from the IRS for 2006 in the amount of $957 and it was extremely hard to just turn around and mail that thing off without running to the bank to deposit it! Especially, considering we have been struggling the whole time in BK ever since we filed! We did type up a letter and signed it requesting the return of the refund and our reasons why. We mailed this letter along with the IRS refund check and we even sent a copy to our attorney. Our attorney did ackonwledge receipt of our request for refund. As far as the trustee situation is concerned, it might as well have fallen on deaf ears. They never responded to the letter at all! But, they sure did depost it ASAP into our BK account, which means it will be disbursed to our creditors along with everything else at some point. I emailed our attorney about 12 weeks after sending the refund in and asked what the status was regarding receiving the refund back. He replied by saying couldn't we just do without the money because in the end, we would have to pay the refund back into the plan in one lump sum! He said he always recommends that BK filers simply minimize their refund as much as possible...

...to which I say, DUH!!!!!! I know that! We've been doing that all along! And, why would he even ask us if we really wanted to proceed with the request? I mean, we wouldn't have written the damn letter in the first place stating our reasons why we needed the refund if we didn't intend to proceed in the first place...idiots!

What makes me so furious is that the trustee letter at the beginning of the year specifically states to write a letter to the trustee explaining your reasons for requesting that any tax refund be given back to you if you wish to keep it and the trustee will supposedly notify you of their decision....Bullsh*t!! The trustee never even replied to us once about any decision whatsoever!! So, basically we wasted our entire efforts in the first place. It's like everything was purposesly just ignored. When I sent my attorney yet another email following up and stating that yes, we still wanted to proceed, he never replied. I haven't heard from him since. Mighty convenient, since he's now been paid in full for his services, according to the 13NDC website! I guess we won't be hearing from him anymore at all!