Significant income increase during my Chapter 13

[TrainWreak]

I emailed my attorney and sent a letter about my above situation. So far he hasn't gotten back. I am required to submit tax information and anything over $750 in tax return. Nothing is stated about increase in income in the confirmation order or anywhere else. By the time my Trustee sees the tax info I will only have 4 payments left in my 3 year plan. My attorney has over 30 years experience in the bankruptcy field and now he has the ball so to speak. I will inform if my plan needs modification.

[TrainWreak]

double post - long delay in showing up sorry

[catleg]

Consider having the IRS keep the refund towards next year's taxes rather than turning it over to the trustee.

[TrainWreak]

I appreciate that catleg but I haven't gotten a refund in 15-20 years. I usually end up sending more in. I'm self employed and pay quarterly.

[Pandora]

We arent required to report any income increases nor submit our tax returns or refunds, if we receive one.

Ya'll have me spooked though - I go through this every single time we do tax returns - and now will be firing off an email just to be certain my lawyer is 100% correct in what he's saying. Gaaah that would be awful to be at the end of your Ch. 13 only to have the Trustee say "nope.. no completion for you - never received returns".

So - hypothetically - what would happen in that instance if you asked your lawyer this very question and they say "nope, not required" on any of the above even though its in BK Code - yet the Trustee then denies your discharge? Can it go against your lawyer for advising you wrongly the entire time since you asked and have it all in writing, so to speak?

[TrainWreak]

Your confirmation order should be clear on what is actually required. If your attorney has been involved with your trustee for a long time he should be up on how he operates. It never hurts to double check though.
Nothing back from my attorney yet. He may just file my letter and wait for input from the trustee if any.

"Can it go against your lawyer for advising you wrongly the entire time since you asked and have it all in writing, so to speak?"
Someone more experienced may want to answer this question.

[out4good3]

Got my income tax return last week.

I don't remember it being stipulated in my confirmation information that I inform the trustee of any income increases or copies of tax returns either. If I stay in my current job location, I am anticipating my income to increase substantially as well through the life of this 5 year process.

I'm about 6 months out from confirmation and I've already managed to stash a good amount of money away as a contingiency.

[minan]

Our confirmation order was 1 page and makes no mention of tax returns, turning tax refunds, etc...we checked with our atty and he stated that there is no requirement for tax returns etc.. The state tax refund was used to payoff our 2010 state tax bill which was not included in the 13. The balance on that is now zero (thank goodness). We expect the federal refund any day now and plan to use it to pay for the annual homeowners' insurance, car insurance, car registration and the rest will go into our savings. We're using the refund to pay for these items so we don't have to worry about it for the year.

[edgarmena]

Please inform if confirmation order is sent from court to us directly or our lawyer is the one who gets it and then send it to us?? please advise.

[Pandora]

Please inform if confirmation order is sent from court to us directly or our lawyer is the one who gets it and then send it to us?? please advise.

Ours was sent directly to us AND to our lawyer.

On another note - heard back from lawyer and this is what he said (for our case..)

11 USC 521 of the Bankruptcy Code states in part:

(f) At the request of the court, the United States trustee, or any party in interest in a case under chapter 7, 11, or 13, a debtor who is an individual shall file with the court -
(1) at the same time filed with the taxing authority, a copy of each Federal income tax return required under applicable law (or at the election of the debtor, a transcript of such tax return) with respect to each tax year of the debtor ending while the case is pending under such chapter;
(2) at the same time filed with the taxing authority, each Federal income tax return required under applicable law (or at the election of the debtor, a transcript of such tax return) that had not been filed with such authority as of the date of the commencement of the case and that was subsequently filed for any tax year of the debtor ending in the 3-year period ending on the date of the commencement of the case;
(3) a copy of each amendment to any Federal income tax return or transcript filed with the court under paragraph (1) or (2)….


The key part of the code section is “At the request”. Each Court and Trustee are different and your friend’s Trustee or Court may require the filing of tax returns for each year he/she is in chapter 13. Your Court and Trustee do not require the filing of tax returns, and no creditor in your case has required it either. So I think you don’t need to file them. If you want to be sure, you can contact the Trustee directly.

Guess I'll be calling the trustee on Monday to be 100% positive on this matter. While I value our lawyer's advice/opinion, the thing that gets me is the "...I dont think you need to file them.." Rather be safe than sorry later.

[TrainWreak]

I received mine from the court and I was able to see it on pacer.
Your attorney should also receive one.

[minan]

We received our confirmation order from the court.

[Okieblue]

We have to turn over refunds, not sure what to do because we owe the state this year, and confirmation doesn't say we have to automatically send in copies of return. Says we have to turn over incidental and irregular monies. wth? Is that a blanket statement to include a raise?

[jgomez5710]

What did you eventually do, Huffydog? I am also from socal and filed without an attorney. I have received confirmation and also received about an 8% income increase. I am not sure what to do since I don't have an attorney so any advise is appreciated.

Thanks.