Tax return/refund question...

[csonly]

Filed Ch 7 in Nov 2010, 341 was Jan, 2011. We are over median, so UST filed statement of POA, so still waiting to hear what is going on with that, but tentative discharge is for the beginning of March, 2011. What should I do about filing? Wait? My concern is, we may get a refund. Can the UST take that? We were hoping that we would get enough back to replace my husband's "beater" car as it is on its last leg with like 175K miles. Of course this would be replaced with another "beater" car, but with less miles, so we're hoping to find a reliable car for $3000-$4000 (not even sure if we would get that much in a refund), but that is what our intentions would be if we get a refund. He drives 120 miles round trip every day, so this kills our cars, we do have 2 other cars. I need the van for the kids. We have a truck, but the gas mileage on that is horrible and we couldn't afford to put gas in that for his distance, much less rack up the mileage and make that car worthless in no time. His current car is paid off, the other 2 we still pay on for a few more years, plan to ride and pay on those. Any ideas on what will happen if we get a refund, assuming (praying) we are able to stay in a 7?

[dontburnthep]

Are you me? Identical situation, with very close dates.

Watching this thread, I have the same question.

[AKA]

Uncanny! Same here...filed Nov, 341 in Jan, now POA from trustee.

[chap7girl]

I filed in Sept 09' and discharged in Dec 09'. Mine was a no asset case, but the trustee sent me a letter after discharge stating I had to send him copies of both my tax returns when i completed them in Feb of 10. They ended up taking 66.3% of my refund (had almost 5000 coming to me, but only got 33% of that). then they distributed what they took to my creditors .
The way they calculated the funds to take was from Jan 09-Sept when I filed (approx 66% of the tax year), so I later learned, if you file bankruptcy best to do it at the beginning of the year :-) to keep your previous year tax refund, if any. Don't know if this happens in all cases, though, as my attorney said sometimes they will take your refund and sometimes not, depends on the trustee and your income/debts.

[HHM]

Your refund, if non-exempt, is already toast. It doesn't matter when you file. You should probably file ASAP and get the money if you can. If you haven't heard from the Chapter 7 Trustee on the issue, get your taxes filed and get the refund.

[Jacey]

My attorney, who does not have me impressed so far, says that I can exempt my return with the leftover federal exemptions. True/false?

[ValleYum]

My attorney, who does not have me impressed so far, says that I can exempt my return with the leftover federal exemptions. True/false?

That is exactly what we did, Jacey. All was fine for the 341 - Trustee never blinked or mentioned it.

[Fallonedward]

My attorney, who does not have me impressed so far, says that I can exempt my return with the leftover federal exemptions. True/false?

We filed Nov. 2010, had 341 in Dec. 2010 and we are no asset. Our attorney exempted $6000 with our leftover exemptions of our tax return. So the answer is TRUE