My Bankruptcy is getting Audited!

[Lindsay]

My attorney asked for even more paperwork than this just for the first meeting. Is the lawyer charging $500 just to submit the paperwork to the auditor or is there something else he has to do? I wonder what would happen if you get audited and are filing pro se.

[nc73]

this is kind of crazy. But my attorney actually wanted all this information right upfront, so maybe my attorney is jumping ahead just in the event this were to happen to me.

Same here I thought it was required, except for explanations.

[CindyLou]

you can compare this exactly to a tax audit.....some CPAs will require you to show receipts before they will claims deductions, others will take your word....if a tax audit comes along then if the CPA didn't get receipts up front then he has to start fresh and its up to him whether he charges or not.Same with bk......thus the situation here.

[freshstart06]

I had to provide all that info to my trustee 10 before my 341 meeting and I was not audited.

[SinkingFast]

If you can think of it that happened in our lives for the last 3 years prior to filing, our attny had it on file. He was very thorough. And it was all scanned into their system and maintained as an electronic copy.

We were given back all our originals in a huge folder. And I keep our "BK Folder" all together. Filing Notices, Discharge Letters, and Closed Notices too. Tucked away. Just in case.

[Bandit]

If you can think of it that happened in our lives for the last 3 years prior to filing, our attny had it on file. He was very thorough. And it was all scanned into their system and maintained as an electronic copy.

We were given back all our originals in a huge folder. And I keep our "BK Folder" all together. Filing Notices, Discharge Letters, and Closed Notices too. Tucked away. Just in case.

but there must be something different about what they call 'audit' even though everything they ask for is the same as not being audited.
I wonder if it is just more of a closer look at all the numbers & further questions instead of simply scanning through it going thru the motions, taking your word for it and just enough to aggrevate people & set them off.

I don't know.

[Bandit]

My attorney asked for even more paperwork than this just for the first meeting. Is the lawyer charging $500 just to submit the paperwork to the auditor or is there something else he has to do? I wonder what would happen if you get audited and are filing pro se.

I wonder what happens if you get audited twice?
Is there such a thing?

[BKOnce]

Time spent = Money spent

[Minnymouth]

Since under the new laws, attorneys are held responsible for your petition and its contents, your attorney should have "on file" anything that the Trustee would want to "audit"........ It all should have been part of your filing process......

Did you file pro se???? If so, then you will be expected to supply any information that the US Trustee wants to see.

You don't need an attorney to do this if you feel comfortable doing it yourself. Just find out what they need, and when!!

Give them what they want........ and it will be quickly over.

If you filed pro se and want an attorney to handle this for you, yes its going to cost you......

[CindyLou]

Again, some attorney's ask for the info up front but no one outside that office ever actually looks at the info except in the case of an audit. Same as the IRS. Some CPA's require recepits and keep them on file, but the IRS processes your return and really doesn't know whether you have receipts or not unless you get audited.

Yes, some trustees will ask to see certain things like bank statments etc. But they do not look at them line item by line item like in an audit. During an audit, it is probably much like an IRS audit where they actually have a CHECKLIST of items to look at and review. A map or flowchart of sorts. I was audited by the IRS once and they would look at one item and it if was ok they would stop there. If it was not ok then they would go to question 2, etc etc......I'm sure this is much the same.

In a non-audited BK the trustee is probably just scanning your stuff, there is not such a structured review. Also in an audit there will be a formal report generated.

[SinkingFast]

Our file at our 341 was THICK. Our attny included lots of stuff.

Way more stuff than the routine 2 years income taxes and 6 months pay stubs.

Everything was detailed out in our BK Petition as well.

Our attny documented our case so well the Trustee didn't have any thing more than cursory questions about any of the info provided.

Even if we had been called for an Audit, the only payments we were making in excess of $500 for 6 months prior to filing were our rent payments. Easy enough to explain.

[WantToBeDebtFre]

OK - My attorney did have all this information already - except for they want all information for the entire month for which we filed (October). I have to bring in the statements that I've received since the day I filed and then my attorney and I are going to go through all the paperwork tomorrow. I think the reason he's charging me extra is because it's taking more of their time. I could probably do it alone but it seems worth the extra money if the audit company comes back and thinks somethings not right I think my attorney will be to blame because I gave him everything and was completely up front and honest about everything. It just seems like a better way to cover my "you know what".

[sarakay5]

We were told straight out that our plan would be audited. Because it was a 0% plan and our income was showing below the state median. We were told what they would want when they called for it and had it all together. After submitting everything I waited about 10 days and called the attorney. Everything was fine. Very painless.

I imagine if I had not been keeping good records and keeping track of expenses it could have been a lot harder. I'm always checking 6 month income to make sure we are in line with our original filing. So far everything balances out and I have not had to report income increases to trustee.

[jaina]

I can’t believe my bad luck. My attorney’s office called me today because I’m one of the “lucky” people to get a random audit. Now I have to go to the attorney’s office on Friday and fill out a bunch of paperwork and provide them with more documentation. This is what I have to bring:

Complete tax returns from the last 2 years (all W2s, etc)

All Bank statements from the last 6 months including the entire month the bankruptcy was filed in. Then I have to have an explanation for every deposit or withdrawal over $500 with documentation.

All of my pay stubs, including the entire month for which the bankruptcy was filed.

Has this happened to any of you? I hope it doesn’t affect my case too much. I guess I have nothing to hide but it’s more of an inconvenience.

Bummer.

I filed on 11/17/07 and I was notified by my lawyer today that I was selected for the "routine audit" too. The trustee wants to see 6 months worth of paystubs, 3 months of bank statements, and my tax returns from the last 2 years. I looked on Pacer, the last update they had was on 11/23/07 and it mentioned nothing about an audit... weird. Anyway, did you hear back from your trustee? Did he ask for more information? What should I expect?

[boinga]

I provided all that to my attorney up front also (at her request). I figured it was standard procedure. At least it got me organized and if an audit were to occur it would all be right there in my file.