Greetings. On the B22A, Lines 23 and 24, you enter the "Local Standards: transportation ownership/lease expense" for "vehicles 1 and 2." What if you don't have a car payment? The form itself does not directly address that situation. It specifies that you would input the IRS standard in "a." and subtract any "average monthly payment" in "b." for a "net ownership/lease expense" in "c." But what if there is no payment for "b."?
It may seem like an obvious answer (you can't deduct anything), but consider -- the makers of "EZ Filing," a software package for attorneys that assists in the preparation of bankruptcy forms, states the following in the user guide for the software, where it discusses line 23:
"If the following is true, check the Exclude box:
-- There is no lien against the car.
-- You or your trustee believe that the debtor can claim an ownership cost only when there is a lien against the automobile."
You exclude if "you or your trustee believe?" Clearly, even the makers of the software aren't certain.
Or look at it this way: let's say I bought a car at Crazy Eddie's Used Car Emporium or whatever, it's the most hideous hoopty on the Face of the Earth, and my car payment is only ONE DOLLAR per month. Then what? How would I complete the B22A? This way: the full IRS standard in 23a, the $1.00 in 23b, and the net of 23a minus 23b in 23c. The $1.00 per month would also appear in Subpart C, Line 42, as a secured debt -- but the end result would be a deduction of the full IRS standard for the vehicle, not merely a deduction of one dollar.
If that's true, why do I need to have a car payment at all?
Thanks in advance for any useful answers. I posted this on the Usenet newsgroup alt.bankruptcy, and some guy responded that it "is the position of the U.S. Trustee" that you must have a car payment. But he didn't say which of the 21 trustees, and he didn't say how he knows it.
Godzilla
It may seem like an obvious answer (you can't deduct anything), but consider -- the makers of "EZ Filing," a software package for attorneys that assists in the preparation of bankruptcy forms, states the following in the user guide for the software, where it discusses line 23:
"If the following is true, check the Exclude box:
-- There is no lien against the car.
-- You or your trustee believe that the debtor can claim an ownership cost only when there is a lien against the automobile."
You exclude if "you or your trustee believe?" Clearly, even the makers of the software aren't certain.
Or look at it this way: let's say I bought a car at Crazy Eddie's Used Car Emporium or whatever, it's the most hideous hoopty on the Face of the Earth, and my car payment is only ONE DOLLAR per month. Then what? How would I complete the B22A? This way: the full IRS standard in 23a, the $1.00 in 23b, and the net of 23a minus 23b in 23c. The $1.00 per month would also appear in Subpart C, Line 42, as a secured debt -- but the end result would be a deduction of the full IRS standard for the vehicle, not merely a deduction of one dollar.
If that's true, why do I need to have a car payment at all?
Thanks in advance for any useful answers. I posted this on the Usenet newsgroup alt.bankruptcy, and some guy responded that it "is the position of the U.S. Trustee" that you must have a car payment. But he didn't say which of the 21 trustees, and he didn't say how he knows it.
Godzilla
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