If you are below the income for the means

[okiemom2008]

does anything else matter?(assets, bank account records, credit card usage in the last 90 days ect.)

[danaf]

YES - the rest sure does matter!

[jribe]

the rest of the things do matter; however you are past the step that some can't make- qualifying for chapter 7! I have to wait literally 5 months before i can file; because my husband and i had made more than median (but he just lost his job). They will ask for your last 6 months (full) paystubs when you file, and they will still look at your debts. Make sure you've left enough time between recent purchases and when you file- the 90 day rule seems to prevail for purchases, and 70 for BT.

[okiemom2008]

Ok, I was thinking I read that the trustee does not care about much of anything if you are below the income on the means. We are going to be right at it-hopefully not above it and quit paying most of our bills so we cannot use those since we have quit paying them. I don't want it to turn into a chpt. 13 because we quit paying the bills that got us behind in the first place!

[okiemom2008]

the rest of the things do matter; however you are past the step that some can't make- qualifying for chapter 7! I have to wait literally 5 months before i can file; because my husband and i had made more than median (but he just lost his job). They will ask for your last 6 months (full) paystubs when you file, and they will still look at your debts. Make sure you've left enough time between recent purchases and when you file- the 90 day rule seems to prevail for purchases, and 70 for BT.

On the paystubs-what do they do if you were self-employed for a coupel of the months. My husband was self-employed for about 2 of the last 6 months and he made about 1000 a day but we had to turn around and put atleast 800 of that back into re-stocking what we sold. So maybe 200 a day profit but really we made nothing at all and were barely getting by

[jribe]

they will most likely want to see your taxes from the last 2 years, and the 1099's for your husband. Unfortunetly, they don't care about the "profit" portion. It would be nice for everyone if they did! They will count *any* income that you had in those six months- they see a $2,000 deposit into checking- it's counted. If you put $75 cash in- they count it. Sometimes they get pretty detailed.

[okiemom2008]

they will most likely want to see your taxes from the last 2 years, and the 1099's for your husband. Unfortunetly, they don't care about the "profit" portion. It would be nice for everyone if they did! They will count *any* income that you had in those six months- they see a $2,000 deposit into checking- it's counted. If you put $75 cash in- they count it. Sometimes they get pretty detailed.

Oh wow...we may have to put off filing for a few months. He was only self-employed from June to mid August and then he went back to his old job.

[CatsInTrouble]

they will most likely want to see your taxes from the last 2 years, and the 1099's for your husband. Unfortunetly, they don't care about the "profit" portion. It would be nice for everyone if they did! They will count *any* income that you had in those six months- they see a $2,000 deposit into checking- it's counted. If you put $75 cash in- they count it. Sometimes they get pretty detailed.

hmm, I don't think that's right. My lawyer said that my self-employed income is the PROFIT part and psecifically asked me for a Profit-Loss statement when he figured t he numbers to see if we're above or below median.

Now, he said that the deductions that are allowed are NOT the same deductions that the IRS allows- it's MUCH less. He said they are basically very direct expenses. Since I work almost 100% online, my internet counts. Since I use my phone for it, my cell phone bill counts. But I cannot deduct portion of heat or internet, even though I have a dedicated home office (IRS would allow that).

So your INCOME from a small biz is not ALL the income, but the profit from your businesses P & L statement. My lawyer will comb through them before I file.

[StartingOver08]

Nope. When you are self employeed you have to provide all the income. You provide expenses but remember the trustee looks at the income and discounts a lot of the expenses. I know, I am a 1099 filer. Some of the expenses they would not allow at all. Remember, the Trustee is not trying to be fair, they are trying to find money to pay creditors.

[relief13035]

You betcha the rest matters.

Just be careful of using your credit cards. I will admit that we used ours 3-4 weeks prior to filing, but not large amounts. We bought food, gas, shampoo, soap, laundry soap, dogfood etc. Nothing out of our ordinary charging pattern. I was fully prepared to be asked to pay this all back but nothing has been questioned. I only stocked up on some everyday necessities to get us by.

[momof3b1g]

I think it is profit that they look at. But you put the total amount of money then you also list the exepnses under expenses. So it washes out or there would be more if there was profit.

As in our case we had to add dh reimbursement for mileage to our income(for when he was out of town) but then we put it down as an expense also. So it was listed under income but then figured into expenses also.

[CatsInTrouble]

I can't imagne why my lawyer would tell me the exact opposite of you, StartingOver.

[StartingOver08]

Well I don't know either. I can tell you I filed a CH 7 and had to declare my business as an asset. I listed all income, listed the expenses as well. Some of the expenses were allowed - some were not. The Trustee AND the US Trustee took a long hard look at all of my income and expenses. I had to provide paperwork going back years. Had my 341 Nov 3 and my CONTINUED 341 on Nov 24. Was finally declared no asset. To give you an idea of questioned expenses - I have to pay a monthly rent to my broker - that was questioned. I have been paying this for 10 years - and that was a questioned expense. It was ultimately allowed. Maybe your district is different, but when you have a business - they check everything.

[floridian]

didnt someone tell me here, that the bottom line is disposable income, no matter what you claim?

[okiemom2008]

hmm, I don't think that's right. My lawyer said that my self-employed income is the PROFIT part and psecifically asked me for a Profit-Loss statement when he figured t he numbers to see if we're above or below median.

Now, he said that the deductions that are allowed are NOT the same deductions that the IRS allows- it's MUCH less. He said they are basically very direct expenses. Since I work almost 100% online, my internet counts. Since I use my phone for it, my cell phone bill counts. But I cannot deduct portion of heat or internet, even though I have a dedicated home office (IRS would allow that).

So your INCOME from a small biz is not ALL the income, but the profit from your businesses P & L statement. My lawyer will comb through them before I file.

The reason I ask is because my husband would have to put 80% of what he profited for the day right back into inventory to re-order the item. It was a computerized system that did it for him but he did have to fax the order in daily. We are only going to have to do this for the month of August because Septemeber is when he went back to his old job(not self employed) but for the month of august is where it gets confusing since they will be looking at August-Jan for a Feb filing.