Tax debt after BK7

[kingmamam]

I have a tax debt from not filing my tax year 1999 includes payroll and capital gains tax. I filed the 1999 tax return back in 8/15/2006. I filed bk7 on may of 2011 and was eventually discharged (no asset bk). At that time my bk lawyer lead me to believe that my tax obligations was non dischargeable and that is the reason I did not include my tax obligation at that time. Can I petition to reopen my case to include my tax obligation if my tax debt is dischargeable?

[justbroke]

The first question is whether the IRS has already treated it as discharged. You may want to contact the IRS to discover their position on the dischargeability of that tax. The IRS is typically VERY good at automatically discharging a tax that satisfied the dischargeability rules for taxes (more than 3 years old, more than 240 days since assessed, more than 2 years since filed).

Now, as to your concern. In some cases, where the debtor did not file a tax return and the IRS filed a substitute for return, or SFR as they call it, that is not considered to be a "tax return" for purposes of dischargeability. Even if you later file an actual tax return to fix the problem, that does not automatically make your tax return supersede the SFR for purposes of dischargeability.

If you were going to embark on this mission, again, I would first contact the IRS to discover their position. If they say it's non-dischargeable because of an SFR, then you would need to go the hard route. The hard route would be re-opening the case, and filing an adversary proceeding (AP) known as a Complaint to Determine Dischargeability. You can only do this by complaint (AP). An AP is a complex legal proceeding and travels as a typical lawsuit (discovery, conferencing, Federal Rules of Evidence, etc.). It is not something you should take lightly and APs tend to take a minimum of 6 months (on a summary judgment) and typically much longer.

(When you contact the IRS central insolvency unit, or special procedures function, or whatever they changed the name to this week, find out if they even know that you filed bankruptcy! While it is unlikely, because the IRS is typically automatically noticed on bankruptcy, they may just look at the bankruptcy and say "oh yeah" and remove the obligation.)

[kingmamam]

Thank you for the response. I will consult with my present lawyer if this is a possible route because she was talking about installment and compromise during our initial meet. The reason I consulted a lawyer just now is because the previous years the irs has left me alone and just sent me a reminder every year on my birthday just a reminder that I owe them something. Just a few days ago I received from acs a letter saying I have 10 days or else( letter 2050)