Reducing tax refund on purpose

[daylate]

From a tax perspective you can not take deductions-IRS doesn't care. Now if the trustee is sharper than a dull tack, I would have to say that the deductions skipped would have to be something that could vary significantly from year to year such as medical expenses or charitable deductions-otherwise they will probably ask and who knows where that would go. And if his deducts are less than standard then that could raise an issue also.
Now if the trustee will only take 179 of the refund I agree with above, but I'm thinking if it is above 1k they would take it all, just not the excess. Much different game then. These are jsut my opinions and are not based on any experience.

[newbie2]

Hello

Take from someone who must "abondon" her tax return for 2010.. ask your friend the following question... you just bk'ed the following amount (fill in the blank) are you truly talking about 179.00 dollars? Are you kidding me? My UST asked for only one thing, my tax return for 2010. I will walk it to her office, hand it to her on a "rented by the hour" sliver plater and say THANK YOU.

Amen!

[DesdemonaB]

Hello

Take from someone who must "abondon" her tax return for 2010.. ask your friend the following question... you just bk'ed the following amount (fill in the blank) are you truly talking about 179.00 dollars? Are you kidding me? My UST asked for only one thing, my tax return for 2010. I will walk it to her office, hand it to her on a "rented by the hour" sliver plater and say THANK YOU.

[JoeBankrupt33]

Just to be clear, he is not planning on amending. I agree, that is fraudulent. He is only contemplating filing with less than optimal deductions.

I'd also like to hear opinions on puting the overpayment toward next years tax liability (1040 line 75).

[AngelinaCatHub]

I'm helping a friend with his taxes and he declared BK in October of 2010. The trustee said he would abandon any tax refund less than $1000 and also return about $380 in assets already paid to the trustee. His refund, using the most advantageous method, would be $1179.

So, can I choose to omit certain itemized deductions to reduce his refund to under $1000? Using this method, the itemized amounts would have to drop below the standard deduction as well.

I've read where people have contemplated filing like this then amending their tax return after the bankruptcy case is closed, but he doesn't want to do that, he just wants to get his amount low so the refund will be abandoned.

Could this backfire?

Yes it could. However, rather than lose the over-payment, and then also do an amended tax report after discharge which could be considered fraud, you can put your taxes towards the next years tax liability. I would certainly address the lawyer for this situation in any case. 'Hub

[JoeBankrupt33]

I'm helping a friend with his taxes and he declared BK in October of 2010. The trustee said he would abandon any tax refund less than $1000 and also return about $380 in assets already paid to the trustee. His refund, using the most advantageous method, would be $1179.

So, can I choose to omit certain itemized deductions to reduce his refund to under $1000? Using this method, the itemized amounts would have to drop below the standard deduction as well.

I've read where people have contemplated filing like this then amending their tax return after the bankruptcy case is closed, but he doesn't want to do that, he just wants to get his amount low so the refund will be abandoned.

Could this backfire?