Flex spending accounts and Health ins question??

[dragonnfly]

Hello, I am really stressed with the 7 or 13 thing. I of course want a 7 but am currently looking for another lawyer because mine scared the hell out of me today with a few statements he made. I am considering myself pretty knowledgeable on BK at this point thanks to this forum. I got a call from him that we were over the mediam and had to file 13. He counted my husband per diem (hes a trucker) as income. My simple question is does the money you put into a flex spending account or $ that is taken out of your check pre tax (like health insurance) count as income to put you over the median?? These dollars do not show up on our w-2's. So does the gross amount on your last pay check of the year matter to determine your median or is it the amount that shows on your W2. Thanks for your help. Melanie

[Flamingo]

Hello, I am really stressed with the 7 or 13 thing. I of course want a 7 but am currently looking for another lawyer because mine scared the hell out of me today with a few statements he made. I am considering myself pretty knowledgeable on BK at this point thanks to this forum. I got a call from him that we were over the mediam and had to file 13. He counted my husband per diem (hes a trucker) as income. My simple question is does the money you put into a flex spending account or $ that is taken out of your check pre tax (like health insurance) count as income to put you over the median?? These dollars do not show up on our w-2's. So does the gross amount on your last pay check of the year matter to determine your median or is it the amount that shows on your W2. Thanks for your help. Melanie

Yes. The money taken out pretax for flex spending account or health insurance out of your salary is shown on your paystubs and also is broken down for tax purposes on your W-2. That money is income although you have made arrangements through your employer for it to be taken out of your salary pretax for tax savings purposes. It reduces your income for federal tax purposes only but it does not reduce your income. The same applies to money put into a 401(k) our of your paycheck (pretax).