Allowable Expenses for Income Tax Refund

[andysmom]

Hi,
Our accountant finally finished our income tax return- filed it electronically and we are getting a refund of about $7000. We plan on filing chapter 13 right away and don't have enough room to exempt all of the refund in.
I know everyone says you can spend it - just not on luxury goods- but anyone have any ideas of what is allowed.
We are going to get our roof fixed- not main but porch and an addition roof (flat/ roll roof) that's leaking, I need tires on my car & my husband's truck needs a few hundred dollars of repairs.
I want to do a grocery/household goods shopping trip. And, I can pay the lawyer the small balance that is left.
What kind of things are allowed that won't raise problems?
And, how long after we spend what we can't exempt, do we have to (or should we) wait before we file?
Thanks in advance and thank you all for all of the advice so far.

[lrprn]

Our accountant finally finished our income tax return- filed it electronically and we are getting a refund of about $7000.

Now be sure to work with your accountant so you don't get this much return next year, especially if your trustee is one that takes tax refunds.

We are going to get our roof fixed- not main but porch and an addition roof (flat/ roll roof) that's leaking, I need tires on my car & my husband's truck needs a few hundred dollars of repairs. I want to do a grocery/household goods shopping trip. And, I can pay the lawyer the small balance that is left. What kind of things are allowed that won't raise problems?

Check with your lawyer, but all of these should be fine.

And, how long after we spend what we can't exempt, do we have to (or should we) wait before we file?

Check with your lawyer again, but spending for needed home and car repairs and your lawyer shouldn't cause any delay in your filing. This is just solid bk pre-planning and is a very smart thing to do.

[andysmom]

Thanks so much for your advice. I did call my lawyer & he ok'd those expenses.
The only reason we got so much back is we were taking single zero (now we take married 3) because I had a small home business that I don't have anymore & we didn't want to have to come up w/a big chunk of money to pay taxes if the business actually made money- plus we got the child tax credit.
I don't know if our trustee takes returns or not; but I assume in our situation, our lawyer said it's going to be a really low pymt due to negative dmi- that I'm pretty sure he'll want the refunds just to pay something back & that's okay with me- we're the ones who made this mess in the first place.
We miss filing chapter 7 by only a few hundred dollars and on the means test (because we really don't have anything other than credit cards & our mortgage) we don't have alot to show out, so it shows positive dmi of $300 and some odd dollars. When he did the paperwork for a 13, it shows 0 / breakeven because we have a 401k loan. He called the trustee who said that was ok, but we'd have to pay the 401k loan pymt into the plan when it ends- but instead of waiting for it to end- I think 6 months before our 13 would end, he said he'll take that full 6 mo amount and spread it out over the life of the 13, to have a pymt coming in every month. (And, I'm sure he'll want the last 6 months to be full payments too- which okay too).
We didn't file yet- going to as soon as we get our refund & spend down what we can't exempt.
Thanks for your advice!