Income earned vs received

[laurannm]

This is probably a really dumb question, but when calculating the means test, is there a difference between income earned vs received? In other words, lets say you file in July. 6-month look-back would then be 1/1/08 - 6/30/08. You are payed bi-weekly, and your last pay stub for the month of June was received on June 27, covering the pay period ending June 22. So the income you earn from June 22 on won't be received until your next paycheck in July. Does that income earned but not yet received count on the means test (at least the portion earned in the last week of June)?


Thanks!

[rustyjanice]

I think it would be the date of the paycheck, not the pay period date.

[HHM]

For convenience, the trustees go by date of paychecks. The only time the earned vs received issue comes up is for independent contractors, or other high dollar amount commission type income.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Yes, you cannot spend income earned yet not recieved. Look at the other end of the time period, you got your money probably for income earned within the outer limit of the six month period, so it balances out. 'Hub

[laurannm]

Thanks

We do have some independent contractor income as well, fairly small amount ~$550\month. Same type of situation...they send me personal checks in the mail though, and at the end of the year it ends up being 26 checks.

However, they don't necessarily send me checks every two weeks (not sure why). Sometime they will send me a check back-to-bcxk weeks, but then not send me a check for 3-4 weeks.

So for example I will have a check from the company I contract with that will be received in the mail later this week. It's a personal check and the date will probably be from early June. Should this also be included?

[Phillymanhere]

Laurannm

I think the answer is yes. Any check you receive in your hands for the 6-month period is relevant. Apparently it doesn't matter whether the work you did for the check was outside the 6 months. I guess the best way of saying this would be that the bk courts want to see all the paychecks we got over the past 6 months. Does this "hurt" your case?

I really appreciate your posts on this board, the thoroughness with which you are approaching this. I have learned so much from reading your questions and your responses.

[laurannm]

No problem, glad I can help I tend to way over-think things but I would rather "too prepared" then not prepared enough

So you think it may need to be included? I won't physically receive it until outside the 6-month window, but the work it is compensating me for was performed in June (inside the window).

Even if it does, the check in question is only for around $280, and I don't think it will impact my case much. I just want to make sure we are accurate

[Help!]

This came up in the course of rebutting abuse in our case. The last March paycheck covered the pay period ending March 31 but the paycheck was dated 4/4. It was not included as income on the means test by the UST (and the taxes were not counted as an expense). The means test is supposed to standardize who is eligible for Ch. 7 but it raises so many questions like these and leaves so much open to interpretation.