Anyone in FL with a paid off car?

[hopefulbk]

I have a car that is paid off and under the equity guidelines. I read elsewhere that in some states, or at least some districts, they don't allow you to use the standard ownership deductions for a paid off car. Has anyone had experience with this in FL?

[MomIcantFindmy]

I had a car that was paid off in Florida and I just exempted it. I think it was worth about $5K. Not a big deal at all.

[sophia]

I have a car that is paid off and under the equity guidelines. I read elsewhere that in some states, or at least some districts, they don't allow you to use the standard ownership deductions for a paid off car. Has anyone had experience with this in FL?

Yes, my husband and I both do..see my post # 3 here for what we are doing.

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=36772

[justbroke]

I'm wondering if the original poster is asking whether you get to claim an "Ownership Allowance" when you have a motor vehicle that is fully unencumbered, in Florida.

I don't have any direct experience. The Courts, nationally, are split almost down the middle on this issue. It has only gone to the 7th Circuit for a ruling, and they say yes. However, Florida is in the 11th Circuit, so the other ruling is not binding or precendence in the 11th Circuit.

[hopefulbk]

I had originally been asking about things like the standard for car maint. and repairs ect.. but that post opened my eyes to an entirely different problem.

[StartingOver08]

Do you mean the $1000 guideline for vehicles in Fl?

Yea, that's brutal! We all had that same issue - unless our cars were upside down.

[justbroke]

I had originally been asking about things like the standard for car maint. and repairs ect.. but that post opened my eyes to an entirely different problem.

You can claim reasonable costs of maintenance and repairs, fuel, etc. I was just worrying about using the entire allowance under IRS guidelines. The IRS allows an operating expense (fuel, repairs) and an ownership expense (cost of loan, insurance, etc).

If you're in a Chapter 7, and doing a Schedule J... then just put what it costs you to "own" the vehicle... down to the oil changes.