Tax Returns

[cso5@]

At my 341, the trustee did not say I have to provide them yearly. Do I, or will my attorney ask for them.

I owe old taxes that are included in the plan -- should I adjust my deductions so I do not get a refund, that would probably just be taken, anyway, later in the year? Just trying to plan ahead here.

Also, could I get a part time job, in addition to my regular job, or is that a no-no? Would I have to report that income to the trustee? Is there a rule of thumb, like, as long as it's only $XX per year, nobody really cares?

Thanks for any insight you could give.

[anonymuse]

I'll try to help my best here, though I'm not in 13.

The trustee may ask for tax returns every year--whether or not they will is probably up to the individual trustee. Just be prepared for it in case they ask.

You would just have to turn over the refund anyway, so, an adjustment would be beneficial to give you a little more $ each month--but check with your attorney and/or trustee since it could be viewed as a plan modification giving you more disposable income. I can sort of see it both ways--the payments you are making to the trustee should include those back taxes as priority debts so should they be paid sooner or later? Someone please chime in here!

It used to be that any increases over 10% should be reported to the trustee--now it is just any increases. Has your trustee given any guidelines? Realize, sometimes with a new/additional job, you have more expenses (i.e. increased gas, new clothes, etc.) so when you report new income you can also report new expenses with it--so in theory, you might actually have an increase in income without an increase disposable income. If you're at the edge of a tax bracket, make sure that a slight gain in income doesn't actually result in decreased net income.

Are you at 100% payback or less?

[aa06a47]

At the 341 meeting, the trustee stated that they wanted any tax refunds greater than $1000.00. (so, if I got a 1349.00 refund, I got to keep 1000, they got to keep 349.). WHile they never said send in your tax return, I would assume it would be the only way for them to know if they were entitled to the refund or not.