Any way to protect 2009 Tax Refund

[justbroke]

We want to file a chapter 13 but waiting for tax return. "Necessities" would that include a car?

yes, that's a necessity. Just be sure, if paying cash, that the subsequent value of the (unencumbered) vehicle fits within your Bankruptcy Exemptions for your State!

Use our old car to trade in and our tax return (about 8,000.) for car that runs. Now would that rasie red flags?

No. However, if the car is worth more than your available exemptions, then the car will look juicy to the Trustee.

[tjs1970]

what is considered necessities?

what if the refund is 5-8k? i would want to be smart with that amount as it might not be able to easily be spent on groceries, household needs and the like........

personally i would love to have it take a trip to my fireproof safe

[justbroke]

what is considered necessities?

Food, clothing, shelter... non-elective medical treatment (non-cosmetic dentist work, other non-elective surgeries), gasoline for car, car repairs, home repairs (roof, sewer line, etc.... but not to redecorate/remodel the kitchen).

what if the refund is 5-8k? i would want to be smart with that amount as it might not be able to easily be spent on groceries, household needs and the like........

With a refund like that, the Trustee will generally want to know where it went! You can't just shove it in the safe or the mattress. You should first try to exempt portions of it. If you're in California and are not claiming a homestead, $8K is quite easily covered by the System 2 exemptions! If you're in Florida... it would be tough to protect any significant portion of that money.

Reads like you have "injured spouse" issues anyhow with the IRS due to your spouses unpaid taxes.

[tjs1970]

i am in WA state..........the attorney i spoke to told me to call him after the new year since no one is sueing me at this point and also said that if i have any debts that are through my bank to pull money out of checking and open a new account..........he also said that if i have less than 20k in the bank i am fine since he will use the federal exemptions? i am upside down on my home, so i have no equity there

[tjs1970]

also...........if we are stopping paying our mortgage and CC payments.......and i am on unemployment......and get those checks via paper and cash them.........and dont put them in our bank account and we are able to live on my wife's paycheck........are they going to question at all what happened to any of it? how would they know what we did and did not spend it on? for all they know, we spent it on necessities......

[justbroke]

They probably won't question where the checks went. You still need to live and buy food and...

[secondtime2]

As I was told by my attorney, in NC, has a "wild card" that protects $5K for each person so if married, you would have $10K we can apply to our refund for only this year. So needless to say, we'll be using that card to protect our refund.

[sufferingAZ]

Does Arizona have a "wild card"? Anyone????

[indebt00]

Does Arizona have a "wild card"? Anyone????

no wildcards in ch 13 in AZ....no way to protect cash. ask your lawyer.

[coolmom04]

As I was told by my attorney, in NC, has a "wild card" that protects $5K for each person so if married, you would have $10K we can apply to our refund for only this year. So needless to say, we'll be using that card to protect our refund.

Ohh! That's good to know! I'm in NC as well and was just trying to figure out what we're going to do about our refund!

[UpsideDownMI]

Does your chapter 13 plan require you to turn over your tax refunds to the trustee? If so, there is nothing you can do. In my plan, I keep all tax refunds.

[Limitman]

According to my attorney my tax return was calculated in my monthly income and payment already so if I were to get a return it would be mine. I got a booklet from my trustee and it makes no mention of sending tax returns in every year but it did say so make sure all my taxes were filed and up to date.