New here, Hi - and Q about Xmas Bonus

[LuciluS]

Without putting any effort into it (I'm sure there are a lot of expenses I could come up with) I was able to get it to $80 over median. I forgot that DH's job will file him as independent contractor and we can deduct his route mileage which is $495 irs allowable per mo. write off.

O Sweetie! Talk to your Attorney about the IRS allowable route mileage. I say this because hubby is an over the road truck driver for a company. We've always used the allowable amount of 75% of the $52.00 for overnight trips on our tax return. Well, I had a meeting with the Attorney in middle of January and he said that would not be acceptable in a Bankruptcy. He would need at least 6 months worth of receipts.

Hubby had a fit, but I Finally got him to keep ALL receipts while in the Big Truck. OMG! He comes home with so many tiny receipts. What I do is put them in date order, run a calculator tape with the total, write the dates on the calculator tape & staple all the receipts to the calculator tape.

So please ask your Attorney.

Luci

[debtmonster]

Without putting any effort into it (I'm sure there are a lot of expenses I could come up with) I was able to get it to $80 over median. I forgot that DH's job will file him as independent contractor and we can deduct his route mileage which is $495 irs allowable per mo. write off.

When you're an independent contractor, you can throttle the income down MUCH easier. Working W-2, you have to take it at face value. I had $20,000+ in write-offs last year.

[weRN2deep]

Hubby had a fit, but I Finally got him to keep ALL receipts while in the Big Truck. OMG! He comes home with so many tiny receipts. What I do is put them in date order, run a calculator tape with the total, write the dates on the calculator tape & staple all the receipts to the calculator tape.

So please ask your Attorney.

Luci

We don't have any gas receipts, but we have record of his gas fill ups via the debit card. He drives the same route every day and it is 45 miles, he's just been writing down... is this a problem? I mean no gas receipts?

[debtmonster]

I don't use gas receipts. They just use miles. You can either show a log or use the previous to current odometer settings. In one year I put 50,000 miles. The next year I put over 20,000. Since I had 2 vehicles at the time, I was able to write off most of the miles which were over $.54 cents per mile or some crazy standard. I totally de-valued my car by putting all those miles, plus it factors in wear and tear, maintenance, etc. That's why you get such a large write-off. But it depends on how much personal use goes on the car vs. business use. I was using my car to visit dealers all over the state, so I wrote the miles off. By the time we added up everything, we had almost $20,000 in write-offs on the $54,000 I made. Even though we did not spend $20,000 to make the $54,000, we wrote off lots of regular things like the cell phones, Internet, portions of the electric and utilities, advertising, etc.

[LuciluS]

We don't have any gas receipts, but we have record of his gas fill ups via the debit card. He drives the same route every day and it is 45 miles, he's just been writing down... is this a problem? I mean no gas receipts?

No Sweetie.... it shouldn't be a problem if he has an daily accounting of his miles in a notebook. BUT, make sure that is a question you ask the Attorney. Hope you are making a list of questions.

When we first visited our Attorney last Sept., I was still in Shock as I had tried debt counseling and told us we needed to see a Bankruptcy Attorney. At that time, I knew NOTHING about bankruptcy. Hubby registered at this forum last Oct. using most of his real name (silly guy LOL!). I spent weeks and weeks reading posts and using the search feature.

Then I registered and started asking questions. As we live in a small town we had to go to the closest city which only had 2 Bankruptcy Attorneys. We interviewed them both and went with my 'gut' feeling. So it's good you are able to ask questions on this forum Before you meet with the Attorney.

Luci

[debtmonster]

That small town thing is NO FUN. Been there, done that. I don't like ANY of the attorneys I met with. I am so glad that I moved and changed attorneys.

The new ones have been much more responsive and their filing time was much faster. Their rates were also considerably lower. One in the small town wanted $4500. The one I got in the big city charged us $3000. When I told the one in the small town about how their fees compared, she got all mad and instantly offered to give us our money back. I'm so glad because I did not trust her.

[LuciluS]

That small town thing is NO FUN. Been there, done that. I don't like ANY of the attorneys I met with. I am so glad that I moved and changed attorneys.

The new ones have been much more responsive and their filing time was much faster. Their rates were also considerably lower. One in the small town wanted $4500. The one I got in the big city charged us $3000. When I told the one in the small town about how their fees compared, she got all mad and instantly offered to give us our money back. I'm so glad because I did not trust her.

I have FULL confidence in our Bankruptcy Attorney. His contract reads he will appear at the 341, will complete 2 reaffirmations (if needed), all filings for Bankruptcy and the Fee was $1,300!!!

[debtmonster]

I have FULL confidence in our Bankruptcy Attorney. His contract reads he will appear at the 341, will complete 2 reaffirmations (if needed), all filings for Bankruptcy and the Fee was $1,300!!!

$1,300 for 2 people? What was the total secured amounts, unsecured amounts and # of creditors?

My attorney charged based on all of the above. I had almost $350,000+ in total debt combined I was looking to wash with nearly 70 creditors and collection agencies.

[Ann]

I'm confused here... If you file jointly is the charge usually more than if only one person files? Also, just a thought here but do you think some lawyers will try to push you into a 13 just to make more money? Seriously... I'm wondering that

[debtmonster]

I don't know. The lawyer I went to told me that he only wants to do Chapter 7's and if you need to go into a 13, he won't represent you.

Yes, it's more money since it's 2 people, 2 credit reports, etc. Lots of paperwork. My lawyer originally wanted $2000 + court fees. Then when they added up all my debt, he wanted an extra $500 since there was so much involved.