Money for donating plasma

[Dewkitty]

I've looked all over and couldn't find any old threads on this, so hopefully this is the right place to post one.

I donate plasma and the center I go to pays anywhere from $20-$50/week (they change it monthly) depending on how often you donate. You get $20 for the first donation, then $20-$30 for your second.

Does this count as income? My attorney wasn't sure since it's not a job and it's strictly voluntary and just something I do for a little extra grocery money or for my daughter to occasionally get food when she's out with her friends. We listed it with our income, but specified where it was coming from. It also varies quite a bit month to month because of the tests they do and sometimes my numbers aren't where they should be, so I get deferred. So while I made $250 with donations and their extra "bonuses" for donating X and Y number of times in the month of December, so far for January I've only made $50, and it's probably going to be another week before I know if I can donate anymore this month. (If a particular test comes back too low, they have to retest it and it can take up to 2 weeks before they get the "okay" or "not okay" back from the lab again.)

Anyway, my question is whether the trustee will consider this actual income or not. We filed on Dec. 16th, but I can provide him printouts of all of last month and this month so far so he can see what it fluctuates.

Thanks for any help.

[BobMango]

I'm not sure I understand the point of your question. What are you concerned about, that if this is counted as income you won't pass the means test or that you'll be thrown into the Chapter 13 territory? As I understand it, you are paid compensation for your services as a plasma donor. Technically this would be considered income. The people I know that do this get paid cash. I don't know if they report the income or pay taxes on it, not do I know if the plasma center reports this to the IRS, but under the new healthcare law they will be required to report anyone they pay more that $600 a year for services, so I suspect that will change shortly.

At any rate, the means test is a six month look back, not a monthly average. You need to provide the numbers for all income and then the determination is made regarding your means test.

[Dewkitty]

We were under the income limit for a family of 3, so we didn't even have to do the means test to file Chapter 7, but it was close. Within a couple thousand dollars. I guess I'm just nervous about any glitches. Our 341 meeting is this Wed afternoon, so I want to make sure we're prepared for anything that might come up as a question. We tried to make sure we had anything covered that might raise the trustee's eyebrow or possibly cause a delay. But now I've read a few notes suggesting you just give what they ask for and not volunteer unnecessary information, so it got me thinking if this would actually count as income or not. (The center I go to pays on a debit card, not cash, so it's fully documented how much you get and when, as well as where you spend it.)

Ugh, stress, stress, stress. We just don't want anything that's going to cause a problem or delay. So maybe declaring it was better, then it avoids if there would be a question, and if the trustee doesn't want to consider it income, he can ignore it.

[debee]

I have to say this is a first for me. I've never heard of this issue before. Total guess, but I would think since it's voluntary and is somewhat dependent on your health (guessing that you can't do it if you're sick) and is also dependent on what they are willing to pay, and requires getting punctured, that it would be easy for you to argue against counting it as income (going forward) should a problem come up with your case.

It would be easy for you to decide that you're sick of getting poked - especially since after the automatic stay came into effect you were no longer having to pay so many bills. It would be easy for you to make the case that you wouldn't need to do it for extra money anymore. If you wanted to change your mind again down the road & return to your life as a pin-cushion for hire, you would have that option.

[helpme2010]

I would think that you surely qualify as a sympathy case to the bk judge. I mean come on, how desperate do you have to be for money to survive to have to give blood/plasma as often as you? People who are doing well financially don't just give blood for the fun of it. Human beings make major sacrifices in order to survive. Stay strong and it will get better eventually!!!

[pavlikclan]

I spend a lot of time job hunting for my husband. He has a job but needs a higher paying job to try to make up for some of the income we've lost in the last few years. I applied to one on careerbuilder last night and they just sent me a letter saying the position I applied him to apparently was with a company they hadn't contracted with.........so how the heck it got on their site I don't know. Oh well nothing majorly amiss thank God I just sent in his resume. No social security numbers or anything.......then again who would want to steal his identity anyway lol.

Oooops sorry I just realized I put this totally on the wrong thread.............this is what happens when I get 3 hours of sleep.

[OhioFiler]

Yes it is income and should be included in your Means Test and schedule I. You are providing a service.

[BKOnce]

Drink lots of water to dilute the blood...

[kel9000]

People who are doing well financially don't just give blood for the fun of it.

A wild guess, but I have to suppose he is not doing well financially.

I used to give blood, just out of the kindness of my heart.

But an extra fifty bucks, AND getting the "warm and fuzzies" from doing a good thing... sounding good to me, right about now : )

[chicagoannie]

Technically - its not giving blood. Your blood goes through a machine that spins out the plasma (they keep that) and your blood cells are returned to your bod. Takes a while - maybe 2 hours all together, each time you go in. So that's 4 hours, plus your time and gas to travel to the center, for $50, if you go twice a week which is the max you can donate.

In IL, the plasma "donation" payments are reported to the IRS as taxable income.

[Dewkitty]

Thanks for the input. It is dependent on health (I haven't been able to donate for a couple of weeks because my protein has been too low), so it's not always something I can control or keep to a schedule. My attorney wasn't sure if it would count or not, so we included it just to be on the safe side. I'm just nervous, our 341 hearing is this afternoon. We're close to the income cutoff to be able to file chapter 7 without the means test, so any wiggle room we can get, we'd like to have.

We were doing just fine until I lost my child support and then my husband's student loans came due. Now we've had 9 months of having to choose to either pay the bills, or pay the student loans. Since you can't default on student loans, we were left with no choice but getting rid of the bills with a bk. The only creditor who was really willing to work with us when we explained things was Home Depot. Everyone else was basically "Oh well, when can you send what you owe?" There were many weeks, all we had for grocery money for a family of 3 was that $50 I got from donating plasma.

I'll just be glad when the whole thing is over.