You can file bankruptcy tomorrow, so long as you don’t currently have a bankruptcy case pending. When you can get a discharge in that case is a different story. The Bankruptcy Code limits the frequency of getting a discharge, not the filing and completion of the bankruptcy case. My friend Gene Melchionne wrote a marvelous […]
Search Results for: priority taxes
Get A Bankruptcy Discharge Even Without Making All Your Payments
You can get a Chapter 13 discharge even without making all the plan payments you promised. There are hoops to jump through and facts to marshal to get that discharge, but it’s possible. The Bankruptcy Code provides for a hardship discharge in Chapter 13 to those whose failure to complete their plan is due to circumstances […]
How To Wipe Out Tax Penalties In Bankruptcy
Tax penalties seem like a further insult when you’re having trouble paying the tax itself. Everything seems subject to an additional penalty: failure to file timely; failure to pre pay sufficiently; failure to be accurate. They mount up quickly, often equaling the unpaid tax. Bankruptcy can not only eliminate your liability for certain taxes, it […]
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 […]
Means Test As Three Dimensional Chess
Means test issues in bankruptcy extend far beyond how much income you have. The allowable expense deductions for your life after filing bankruptcy count, too. After an hour long initial consultation with a client, these complexities became clear when the client tagged the means test with incredible clarity. It’s like playing three dimensional chess Pretty […]
Why Bankruptcy Cases Go Down The Drain
I watched dozens of Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases get dismissed in a single afternoon in court recently. Dismissed. Tossed out. Ended. The usual reason was that the debtor had not taken seriously the requirement that all their tax returns be filed within 45 days of the commencement of the case. Regardless of the debtor’s need […]
Who’s Afraid Of Bankruptcy’s 90 Day Rule
Most folks considering bankruptcy know about the 90 day rule in bankruptcy. They’ve talked to friends or read on the internet. When they get to a bankruptcy lawyer’s office, they’re eager to tell me they know about the rule, though sometimes they have questions about just how it works. Which is all very interesting, except that […]
Staying Out Of Bankruptcy Trustee’s Crosshairs
Clients who want the benefits of bankruptcy without any change in the way they want to live life have been the theme of my practice lately. This seems to come out when we do a Schedule J budget in a Chapter 13: they want $300/month in recreation, $1400 in food, and $300 in clothing. While […]
Bankruptcy Alphabet: I Is For IRS
“I” stands for IRS in my Bankruptcy Alphabet. Bankruptcy law treats the IRS little different than other creditors. The tax collector is just one of the boys. But the most important point is that income taxes can be erased in bankruptcy. There are rules, three of them in fact, that govern when income taxes […]
Why Some Chapter 13 Payments Are A Heavy Lift
Why do Chapter 13 plan payments end up too high to pay if Chapter 13 is supposed to be a financial reorganization? How are plan payments allowed to consume nearly all of monthly wages? The short answer is that the infamous means test isn’t the only factor driving the monthly payment in Chapter 13. The […]
