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What about missing credit card/bank statements? How far back for sole proprietor?

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    What about missing credit card/bank statements? How far back for sole proprietor?

    I will be filing Chapter 7 in January. Since my only income since 2004 has been from self-employment, I am trying to put together as much documentation as I can before I call the lawyer next week. Hopefully I won't need it, but I'm trying to collect 4 years tax statements, 2 years bank statements, and 3 years credit card statements.

    A few questions:

    1. I am a sole proprietor, and I've used my credit cards for both business and personal expenses. I don't have separate cards for my business expenses, because my business was really small: less than $20,000 gross each year. Over the past 3 years, most of my credit usage has been for business expenses like buying stock and online postage for my business. How does this affect my petition and what documents they'll want to see?

    2. I have almost all of my credit card statements, but I'm missing a few from 2008. On the off chance that the trustee wants to go back that far, do I absolutely have to have every statement from the designated year?

    3. Also, in the unlikely instance that I need 3 years of bank statements, it will be difficult to get the ones from 2007. I had an account with NetBank, which of course closed in 2007. Unfortunately I didn't print my NetBank statements before the website went down. The account was taken over by ING Direct, where I still have an account. However, they told me they will only produce NetBank statements if I obtain a subpoena or court order. Would a bankruptcy lawyer be able to send them a subpoena? How much would they charge me to do this?

    #2
    I think you may be creating a lot of unnecessary work for yourself. We are also sole proprietors (3 separate businesses) and only had to provide our attorney 1 year of bank statements, 1 year of monthly P&Ls, and 2 years tax returns. I think the Trustee only needed 6 months but my attorney wanted to be extra prepared in case questions came up. We didn't need to provide any credit card statments, just who we owed, their addresses and how much we owed.

    You may want to do yourself a favor and ask your attorney what you need. At our first consultation, we brought in a list of our assets and debts so he could qualify us for the BK. He then gave us a list of what documentation we needed to provide. It may not be a hard as you think.
    Filed Non-Consumer Chapter 7: 07/31/2009
    341 Hearing: 09/03/2009
    Last Day for Creditor's Objections: 11/02/2009
    Discharged! 11/03/2009 CLOSED! 01/05/2010

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      #3
      Originally posted by SleepWellNow View Post
      I think you may be creating a lot of unnecessary work for yourself. We are also sole proprietors (3 separate businesses) and only had to provide our attorney 1 year of bank statements, 1 year of monthly P&Ls, and 2 years tax returns. I think the Trustee only needed 6 months but my attorney wanted to be extra prepared in case questions came up. We didn't need to provide any credit card statments, just who we owed, their addresses and how much we owed.

      You may want to do yourself a favor and ask your attorney what you need. At our first consultation, we brought in a list of our assets and debts so he could qualify us for the BK. He then gave us a list of what documentation we needed to provide. It may not be a hard as you think.
      That's great that you didn't have to come up with too much.

      Did you continue your businesses or close them? I sold the last of my inventory in March 2009, so my business is effectively kaput, though I could restart it later should I find something to sell. Would it make things easier to say I closed my business, and transfer my few business assets (old computer & printer, etc.) on my Schedule C to personal use?

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        #4
        We were told we could continue conducting business if we could show documentation we had business insurance. We had no inventory (the Trustee asked us about this at our 341 hearing) and we claimed what little business assets we had (furniture, computers, printers) under our personal exemptions. We didn't close our businesses but very little income was coming in from them (thus the BK!). You should ask your attorney what you should do with your business for the BK. We felt fortunate we could keep our businesses open and hope to rebuild them as the economy improved.

        BTW - we are in California
        Filed Non-Consumer Chapter 7: 07/31/2009
        341 Hearing: 09/03/2009
        Last Day for Creditor's Objections: 11/02/2009
        Discharged! 11/03/2009 CLOSED! 01/05/2010

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          #5
          I'm self employed also and my business only has a laptop, printer, and fax. My attorney said he didn't see a reason to worry about that stuff. I'm in Nevada and I had to give 6 months bank statements, 4 years tax returns, and 6 months of my P & L statements. I also gave all of my wife's income, stocks, and account information. She didn't file but I wanted her covered by my BK.

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            #6
            I am in Iowa and we only had to provide one month's worth. We are scheduled to be discharged in less than a month and the trustee hasn't asked for anything else. I think it must vary by state/district. Good luck to you! Happy New Year - may 2010 be better for all.

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              #7
              Well if nothing else, I am now TOTALLY organized. I have almost 3 years of just about everything they could want. I'm in the Detroit area and I imagine the trustees have a LOT of people to get through these days.

              Happy new year to all of you as well. 2010 has got to be better than 2009. If nothing else, I should be out of debt by spring. What a great feeling that will be.

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