tax refund question

[housepoor]

We are getting ready to file for bankruptcy. Hoping for ch 7, it looks like we are just under income levels for our family of 6 in PA. We haven't filed our taxes yet but are expecting about $11,500. Will they want all of this? I'm concerned because we need this money to catch up on our regular bills like mort, second mort, g&e, etc which are all behind and to pay the bankruptcy lawyers. We also have several issues as far as home repairs that have been put off due to money that have to be addressed. We don't have extra money after bills so this is the only way we can pay for these repairs. I was also hoping to put about $2000 aside for the unexpected things that come up nonstop with 4 kids. With it being winter I'm paying about $250 a month in medicines and copays alone that are unexpected. How I wish I would have known our financial situation was going to end up like this so I could have claimed and got more during the year. Ow ya we need another $900 of that to pay our local taxes.

[Trixie007]

Hello and welcome! These all look like valid things to do with the tax refund, provided you get it before filing - which it sounds like you will. The only thing that may be hard is the putting aside $2,000 for things that come up - when you file, you may be able to exempt some cash, but only you and your attorney can figure out how much.

[hopejones]

I'm in a similar situation. The advice I keep seeing posted on this forum says to file your taxes first, get the refund, spend it on necessary things (bills, medical expenses, car & house repair, etc), keep the receipts for everything that you used the money on, then (last but not least) file Chapter 7. I'm sure some more experienced folks will chime in too.