Trustee & wage attachment

[maddog2112]

Can a trustee have your employer send him a copy of all your earned income and deductions for the year, or is that why he needs your income tax returns every year? I send him a copy of my returns every year along with any refund. Just wondering if he`s comparing my return with a company readout. Does he have that kind of power?

[StartingOver08]

Yes. The Trustee checks everything - or I should say the Trustee's staff checks everything.

[lrprn]

Can a trustee have your employer send him a copy of all your earned income and deductions for the year, or is that why he needs your income tax returns every year? I send him a copy of my returns every year along with any refund. Just wondering if he`s comparing my return with a company readout. Does he have that kind of power?

Could your trustee request this information? Yes. However, it would be very unusual for your trustee to ask for income verification from your employer if you are providing him/her with your annual tax returns.

Since you can go to jail for falsifying your tax returns, unless the trustee has a suspicion that you did lie about your income and were paid significantly more that you entered on your tax forms, why else would he/she ask your employer to verify what they paid you?

Trustees are busy people. They don't do ANYTHING unless there's a strong possibility there's more $$s in it for your creditors. As long as your tax returns are accurate, then even in the rare instance that your trustee would ask for employer verification, the income information should match up anyway, right?

[maddog2112]

Thanks for the reply. Just curious as to trustee procedures.

[Flamingo]

Yes. The Trustee checks everything - or I should say the Trustee's staff checks everything.

As lrprn stated above, unless there are specific circumstances for the trustee to request information from one's employer, the requested tax returns that one usually has to send in each year after filing provide the information the Trustee needs as to required financial information. If there is a big discrepancy as to an increase in income, the Trustee will investigate. Usually the Trustee does not require statements or payroll records from employers unless there may be a job change where proof of income is needed, proof of job loss needed or proof of a new job is needed if there is a job or income change during one's Chapter 13.

[maddog2112]

Thanks for all the replies. This site is the best!!

[woeisme]

My trustee has never requested tax returns. Do you think at the end he might ask to see them and if so, could he then decide to adjust the payment? Or if he doesn't want returns, do you figure he doesn't care as long as the payments get made on time? (right now shouldn't be an issue, my income has increased but hubby's has decreased by more than my raises, but possibility in future we could make more than the original budget...)

[maddog2112]

Consider yourself lucky if your trustee doesn`t ask for yearly tax returns. Does he take any part of your returns? Ours wants all of any returns plus the tax returns aven though he gets all of his payments from my wage attachment. If yours doesn`t ask, I wouldn`t worry about it. He`ll probably be content at the end of 60 months with whatever you`ve payed in. Mine wants the return so he can increase my payment if I make a penny over what I made last year.Thats how I jumped from 75% payback to 80% payback last year.

[crookedoak]

I will hopefully be discharged within the next 30-60 days. My wage attachment should be over, as the court has signed off on it.

Since my filing in 10/2004 I have never ever heard from the trustee on anything.

I have kept my refunds, have never been asked for tax returns.

The only communication with the Trustees office has been initiated by me, and has been through email

[broncho14]

Why is there so much inconsistency from one district to another? My trustee takes your tax returns but, according to my attorney, he rarely seeks an increase in anybody's monthly payment. However, in the neighboring district they take your tax returns and often raise the amount one pays. In the other neighboring district the Trustee looks at your tax returns but lets you keep any refund under $2,000 but will often seek to increase one's payment. Three districts within two states and they all do it a diffferent way. Why is it not uniform across the nation or even uniform within the same state?

[justbroke]

Why is it not uniform across the nation or even uniform within the same state?

Because underlying State law influences the federal bankruptcy code, dramatically. This is why you can have different policies in one District versus another.

The, on top of that, add different judges with different opinions of how the code works. Many Bankruptcy Judges have sat on the bench for years if not decades.

[blindsided]

Consider yourself lucky if your trustee doesn`t ask for yearly tax returns. Does he take any part of your returns? Ours wants all of any returns plus the tax returns aven though he gets all of his payments from my wage attachment. If yours doesn`t ask, I wouldn`t worry about it. He`ll probably be content at the end of 60 months with whatever you`ve payed in. Mine wants the return so he can increase my payment if I make a penny over what I made last year.Thats how I jumped from 75% payback to 80% payback last year.

The question is about tax RETURNS (forms), not tax REFUNDS. Just FYI.

[aa06a47]

I emailed my tax return to my attorney last year, never heard anything back from her. I assume she got it and passed it on to the trustee.