Christmas bonus and w2 forms

[mikewindy]

Hi,
I have a question concerning christmas bonuses and trustees. My question is this year for christmas my husband boss said he was going to give a large amount bonus . I filed (not husband) Chapter 13 in July 2011. I am a stay at home mom and they went off his income. And the question I have is do I have to report that to the trustee and if I dont what happens? I know that they will be taxing this and it will show up on w2 forms and i do believe that the trustee will be getting a copy of that. Which will have a increase of yearly income. But i also told the lawyer that husband does get bonus sometimes we do not ever know when or how much and they said I didnt have to report it. Because it was never know if we would be getting this money or not from year to year. But i am worried about the increase on w2 and the trustee. will my payments just go up..?? How is this handled?

[LadyInTheRed]

You should not report anything to the trustee. Never contact the trustee unless your attorney tells you to. When your husband receives the bonus, let your attorney know the size of the bonus and he will inform the trustee if required.

If your attorney does not inform the trustee but you have to send copies of your tax returns to the trustee, he may notice the increase in income and try to increase your payment. If you don't have increased expenses to offset extra income, he'll probably be successful.