does income return count towards mean test

[cnrayne]

Me and my husband are just starting the process. I have seen a lot of info about tax rebates after you file, but I am wondering about it before you file. We just received a tax rebate for about 7,000. Will this rebate counts towards our income for our means test? We pass without it but not with it. Also, I am wondering if it does count, won't that mean that some income is counted twice since they count your gross in the first place and most of the rebate is income that they withheld? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

[keepinitreal]

Your current monthly income does not include income tax refunds.

[justbroke]

This is actually a District-specific practice. Some Districts require that the Debtor calculate in their average income tax refund as monthly income. Most attorneys, in those Districts, will take the last refund and divide it by 12 to come up with the amount. A refund is income. Most Trustees are familiar with this and will use an "internal" Form B22A to calculate the "over/under withholding" associated with income tax in general.

As for a "tax rebate", that's something interesting. If this was a one-time thing due to a first-homebuyer "credit" or something similar, and not a usual tax refund amount, then it can be explained as one-time.

Now, will your Trustee consider that income for purposes of the means test? I can't answer that.

[waitinginmo]

In Mo it counts twords your income on your means test. Basically what they told me was that A "refund" is money that you should have gotten through out the year and you are just getting it in one lump sum. I would file before I got my refund as to not have it cound on your means test. I had to wait 5 months last year so I could file without it on there.