Not sure about tax refunds

[yomama]

We filed the beginning of November and the last day for objections is March 4. We haven't filed our taxes yet and will probably be getting some money back, but I'm not sure how much. At what point can you call your tax refund your own or can the trustee ask for it at any time, even after discharge? Should we mention it to our lawyer or the trustee or will the trustee automatically just know without us having to tell him? I don't want to get in any kind of trouble by not reporting it, but then on the other hand, it would be nice if we could keep the refund because we sure could use some things here at our place.

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

What did you file? Ch7 or Ch13? The Trustee would have told you at the 341 Meeting whether he wanted that tax refund - most of the time, especially if you in Ch13. Trustees are different in each state. For example when I was in Ch13 (state of Virginia), I had to file my taxes 10 days before the due date, any return over $250 was the Trustees to keep to dispurse among the creditors and I would get back $250. Of course THAT would never happen since I never get anytyhing back!

Best Wishes, Catchmeifyoucan

[yomama]

We filed Chapter 7, and the trustee said at the end of our 341, "This is a no asset case." The trustee didn't say anything about a tax refund at all. It would be great if we could keep it, so do you think that's the case then IYHO?

[CATCHMEIFYOUCAN]

Honestly IF it were me, and this is just my NON EXPERT opinion, I wouldn't touch that refund and let the Trustee know, because if you spend it and they find out - you could be liable to pay THAT amount back to the Trustee regardless if you spent it. Do you have a lawyer? I would just play it safe and let the lawyer know.

Catchmeifyoucan - if it were money coming from elsewhere, like a $100 scratcher or a small hit at the casino, than I KNOW that I would KEEP it and not put it in my bank account. BUT TAX REFUND where it can easily be tracked - I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

[JollyGG]

We filed the beginning of November and the last day for objections is March 4. We haven't filed our taxes yet and will probably be getting some money back, but I'm not sure how much. At what point can you call your tax refund your own or can the trustee ask for it at any time, even after discharge? Should we mention it to our lawyer or the trustee or will the trustee automatically just know without us having to tell him? I don't want to get in any kind of trouble by not reporting it, but then on the other hand, it would be nice if we could keep the refund because we sure could use some things here at our place.

When did you file?
The dates are not matching for me. If you filed in the beginning of November your last date for objections should be the beginning of Febuary and already past. Did you perhaps mean that you filed at the beginning of December.

Nonetheless. March will be here soon. Just wait on doing anything with the return until after you are discharged and closed. As the trustee has said you are a no assets case, closing should come shortly after discharge.
It sounds likely that the return is yours to spend. But a few weeks wait is probably worth it to be sure it won't be an issue.

[yomama]

Honestly IF it were me, and this is just my NON EXPERT opinion, I wouldn't touch that refund and let the Trustee know, because if you spend it and they find out - you could be liable to pay THAT amount back to the Trustee regardless if you spent it. Do you have a lawyer? I would just play it safe and let the lawyer know.

Catchmeifyoucan - if it were money coming from elsewhere, like a $100 scratcher or a small hit at the casino, than I KNOW that I would KEEP it and not put it in my bank account. BUT TAX REFUND where it can easily be tracked - I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

Hmm...well, then we'd better hang onto it just in case, huh? Dang, I was hoping to go out and buy a mattress for my room because the one that's there now is old and practically killing my back. Yes, we have a lawyer. I didn't trust us to file on pro se, afraid we'd screw something up and then I'd have that to worry about. Oh, if I were a gambler, I would keep the money too if I'd win a small amount.

[yomama]

When did you file?
The dates are not matching for me. If you filed in the beginning of November your last date for objections should be the beginning of Febuary and already past. Did you perhaps mean that you filed at the beginning of December.

Nonetheless. March will be here soon. Just wait on doing anything with the return until after you are discharged and closed. As the trustee has said you are a no assets case, closing should come shortly after discharge.
It sounds likely that the return is yours to spend. But a few weeks wait is probably worth it to be sure it won't be an issue.

To be honest, I don't even know the exact date of filing. The lawyer never said and we didn't ask. I guess it wasn't at the very beginning of November but maybe more towards the middle. I just know that it was a little too late when the lawyer got it in for our 341 to be in December, so it wasn't until January 3, and it says on the papers we got in the mail: "Deadline to file a complaint objecting to discharge of debtor or to determine dischargeability of certain debts: March 4, 2007". So I didn't know if they would take a tax refund from us after that date or not. We want to get the taxes done this week yet because we have to know our amount to apply for FASFA for our daughter (this fall she'll be starting her fourth year of college). So I wouldn't imagine that we'd get our refund much before the beginning of April. If it wouldn't be for that, we'd wait, but my husband said we have to get them done this week.

[ccidiot01]

Our Trustee was very adament at our 341 meeting that we provide a copy of our 2006 return to his office and that any refund was his. He followed that up with a letter emphasizing what was discussed at the 341 and in all caps was the reminder: "DO NOT SPEND YOUR 2006 INCOME TAX REFUND".

[yomama]

Our Trustee was very adament at our 341 meeting that we provide a copy of our 2006 return to his office and that any refund was his. He followed that up with a letter emphasizing what was discussed at the 341 and in all caps was the reminder: "DO NOT SPEND YOUR 2006 INCOME TAX REFUND".

I wonder why ours didn't mention anything about it. Maybe he assumed we already knew enough.

[SinkingFast]

Our Trustee was very adament at our 341 meeting that we provide a copy of our 2006 return to his office and that any refund was his. He followed that up with a letter emphasizing what was discussed at the 341 and in all caps was the reminder: "DO NOT SPEND YOUR 2006 INCOME TAX REFUND".

We got the same letter. About a month after our 341.

Then, Monday, the paralegal from our attny's office called about our taxes. Wanted to "remind" us about turning in our taxes to the Trustee. That the Trustee might take our refund.

I had already run our taxes. I run thru them. Set them aside. Wait a few days, and come back to them. I'll do that 2-3 times before I submit our taxes for filing. So, the paralegal also asked if I had any idea of how much refund we're expecting. I told her less than $600, combined, Federal and State.

Then the paralegal told me something interesting.

Since we had gotten that letter, which we had to sign and return to the Trustee,............ Our Refund Checks will be sent directly to the Trustee.

The Trustee has already been in contact with the State Dept of Revenue and the IRS. The Trustee gets a chance to look over our Returns with the Checks in hand and decide what part, if any, he'll keep. If he decides to keep our Refunds, he cashes the checks. If he decides to abandon our Refunds, he'll mail the checks out to us.

[yomama]

We got the same letter. About a month after our 341.

Then, Monday, the paralegal from our attny's office called about our taxes. Wanted to "remind" us about turning in our taxes to the Trustee. That the Trustee might take our refund.

I had already run our taxes. I run thru them. Set them aside. Wait a few days, and come back to them. I'll do that 2-3 times before I submit our taxes for filing. So, the paralegal also asked if I had any idea of how much refund we're expecting. I told her less than $600, combined, Federal and State.

Then the paralegal told me something interesting.

Since we had gotten that letter, which we had to sign and return to the Trustee,............ Our Refund Checks will be sent directly to the Trustee.

The Trustee has already been in contact with the State Dept of Revenue and the IRS. The Trustee gets a chance to look over our Returns with the Checks in hand and decide what part, if any, he'll keep. If he decides to keep our Refunds, he cashes the checks. If he decides to abandon our Refunds, he'll mail the checks out to us.

SF, I wonder if that letter isn't standard procedure because we didn't get one...unless our trustee forgot to send us one. The only thing that we got in the mail and had to sign and return was the affirmation on my husband's car. I wish my husband would just wait to send in our tax return, but he says he has to get it done this week, wouldn't you know it.

[BKTango]

If the trustee stated at the 341 you were a no-asset case, usually that means that they are not expecting your refund...most times. The easiest thing you could do to check is simply look at your bk petition and forms that were filed (you SHOULD have all of this as your lawyer should have given you a copy of it all) it will also list the date your bk was filed at the top, should you ever need to know that again. However on the page where it lists your exemptions....if your estimated tax refund is listed then that means your lawyer was able to exempt it as you had enough exemptions left to cover it. Or, you could just call your lawyer and ask them if in fact the refund was exempted or if the trustee expects it. Ours was listed on our exemptions page, but I also called our lawyer just to do a double check. You'll have your answer then.

[bige1030]

If your case is a no-asset case, the trustee will eventually file a notice of no distribution with intention to abandon the property of the estate to you. Once the time has passed for objections to that, and no objections are filed, your refund is abandoned to you.

[yomama]

If the trustee stated at the 341 you were a no-asset case, usually that means that they are not expecting your refund...most times. The easiest thing you could do to check is simply look at your bk petition and forms that were filed (you SHOULD have all of this as your lawyer should have given you a copy of it all) it will also list the date your bk was filed at the top, should you ever need to know that again. However on the page where it lists your exemptions....if your estimated tax refund is listed then that means your lawyer was able to exempt it as you had enough exemptions left to cover it. Or, you could just call your lawyer and ask them if in fact the refund was exempted or if the trustee expects it. Ours was listed on our exemptions page, but I also called our lawyer just to do a double check. You'll have your answer then.

That sure would be nice if here weren't expecting our refund. There are so many things that we need, but even if he takes it, that's still lots better than if we hadn't filed bk. We realize now that we would have never been able to pay back all that we owed on our cc. Now we can just worry about paying back my husband's college loans for years. I was worried sick when I realized just how in debt we were, but I've felt such relief ever since we decided to file. I was going to look at those papers for the filing date, but I don't know where my husband put them. I'll have to ask him. I could call our lawyer but he doesn't get back to us half the time anyway, so there's still a good chance that I wouldn't get an answer that way. Overall though we've been pretty happy with him. I think good lawyers are hard to come by. The first one we had a consultation with was a crook.

Our refund wasn't listed on our filing papers as an exemption. We filed in November and didn't know our total year's earnings yet. We're just going to send our return in this week.

[yomama]

If your case is a no-asset case, the trustee will eventually file a notice of no distribution with intention to abandon the property of the estate to you. Once the time has passed for objections to that, and no objections are filed, your refund is abandoned to you.

I like some answers here more than others. I vote for yours as one of the ones that I like. lol Really, I'm sure anyone would want their refund and we really want ours. It would be so nice, but I won't count on it just in case. I hope so much that you're right. I haven't checked Pacer because I don't have money to check it, so I'm living in suspense about things more or less.