Are Gifts Considered "Income"??

[rawar]

Are Gifts Considered "Income"??

HI:

I need to know if gifts from family and friends to help pay for medical expenses would be considered "income" for purposes of deteremining your "disposabnle income" to see if you qualify for Chater 7.

Because of my high medical expenses, my expenses exceed my regular income by hundreds of dollars a month. I have only been able to survive because of monetary gifts from family and friends to pay for necessary medical procedures and medicines that I could not otherwise afford. Will the Trustee say that these gifts are income and put me at risk of going into a Chapter 13?

These gifts have been sporadic and I have no way of telling if I will be receiving any help this coming year.

[quest42]

I've read that gifts up to $11,000 per year are not taxable "income"... some gifts can be taxable to the giver but not the receiver... (check www.irs.gov for more info...)

As far as bankruptcy goes, it would seem that these gifts are not ordinary, recurring, monthly income... When the income on your schedule I is much less than your expenses on schedule J there could be some explaining to be done... if someone gave you money to help you meet your expenses, that's probably a valid explanation... as I currently understand it.

What is asked for on the schedule I is your normal, averaged, monthly income, from wages, salary, commission, etc... and "other MONTHLY income..." --- There does not seem to be any place to disclose "gift income" that is not "current monthly income" ... right?

My guess is that if the question arises in your 341 meeting, your good explanation about some gifts of help from relatives would satisfy your trustee that there is nothing to be done about the gifts... yes? It's not an asset, you spent it already on medical bills... and it's not regular, monthly income... What else does the trustee care about? Does the trustee care about how deep your kind relatives pockets are?

??? Anybody else have more comments on this ???