Settle your debts outside of bankruptcy and you may be bitten by taxes you didn’t expect years later. Yet, everyone I talk to would rather cut a deal with their creditors than file bankruptcy. It’s universal. But here’s the killer reason why bankruptcy alone protects homeowners from a unexpected tax consequence down the road. Debt […]
Free Tax Preparation Offered In Bay Area
Households with an annual income of $54,000 or less can have their tax returns prepared for free through the Bay Area United Way’s Earn It, Keep It, Save It program. Earned Income Tax Credit The Earn It, Keep It, Save It campaign is particularly focused on enabling qualifying individuals and families to access this tax […]
What’s Up After Tax Extension To File?
The tax extension in the mail and you don’t have to think about income taxes til October 15th approaches. Right? Not in my book, if you are self employed. The self employed don’t have their estimated income taxes withheld from their paychecks. There aren’t any paychecks if you are among that resolute band of entrepreneurs, […]
Unfiled Tax Returns Are A Life Sentence
Unfiled tax returns upset all the normal rules about discharging taxes in bankruptcy. This story tells you why. Two clients, each with $200,000 in tax debt, came to my office this week. One can escape it all now; the other is facing several years before bankruptcy will do anything for him. What’s the difference? Filed […]
Tax Liens Live On After Bankruptcy, Unless….
You mean the tax liens won’t go away when I get a bankruptcy discharge? The client was startled that the lien would live on beyond his bankruptcy. So, if all my debt doesn’t go away, what do I get from the bankruptcy discharge? he asked. I thought the tax debt went away when I filed. […]
Keep Your Tax Refund Through Your Bankruptcy
For most of us, finding out that we are getting a sizable tax refund is great news. But if you’ve recently filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, hold your celebration. That refund may not be yours. You have a bankruptcy estate When you file bankruptcy, all of your assets become a “bankruptcy estate”. The estate includes […]
Got A 1099? How To Avoid Paying More Tax
One of life’s persistent gotcha’s is the tax consequence of having debt forgiven. Did you compromise a debt, eliminate it upon foreclosure, or have your creditor simply wipe it out without payment. You may have a tax problem. The tax code treats the forgiveness of debt as income, even though you never saw a penny […]
Old Tax Liability Discharged In Bankruptcy, If….
Discharging tax debt in bankruptcy gets lots of families out of a horrible hole. Tax debt can be large and swelled beyond the tax by interest and penalties. Collection on old tax debt often compromises the ability to stay current on more recent years. Bankruptcy can save their bacon because taxes found on returns […]
Five Tax Tips For Two Cents
The tax filing deadline approaches. So why is a bankruptcy lawyer talking about taxes? I’ve found over three decades as a bankruptcy lawyer that there’s a surprising degree of overlap between bankruptcy and tax . All too often, it’s tax troubles that brings a family to me for help. Here’s my two cents on what […]
How Consumer Remedies Were Gutted By Little- Noticed Tax Code Changes
Tax code changes effective in 2018 inflicted a crippling blow to consumers who must sue to enforce their rights. And few have yet noticed. The tax deduction for miscellaneous itemized deductions under IRC Section 212 is gone. So now, consumers who prevail under statutes that award attorneys fees to the successful plaintiff are denied a […]
