Pro Se filer has a few questions about paperwork

[spanky]

Hello,

I'm prepping my chapter 7 pro se filing with a BPP in Los Angeles, CA and I could use some help on a couple of points. I apologize in advance if these are dumb questions.

1) I'm currently unemployed so my only income is UI for the purposes of my schedule I. Because of this, my schedule J shows my DMI as $ - 4,000. I work freelance, so my income will (hopefully) increase, but at the moment, the Unemployment Insurance is all I have. Is it bad to show such a large negative disposable income on my schedule J?

2) A Means-Test question: Typically, I earn about 3/4 of my income as an employee (W-2) and the rest as an independent contractor (1099). I just want to confirm that I should be listing the W-2 income as salary and the 1099 income as Gross Receipts in the business section. Then, business expenses, would be deducted just as I will on my tax return? Do I deduct the income tax there or lump it together with the W-2 taxes on line 25?

3) I've heard that some trustees ask for P&L statements for independent contractors. Should I just prep those now and include them?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[DebtStinks]

1) Our schedule J was about -2k. Wasn't an issue. Might be an issue if you are trying to get the Judge to sign off on a reaffirmation though.

2) For my business I did the same for both Schedule I and the Means Test. I ran a P&L statement for each of the previous 6 months. For Schedule I we just averaged out the net profit for all 6 months and put it on the line for "Regular income from operation of business". For the means test I just averaged out the gross receipts & expenses for the previous 6 moths off the P&L's and just put that in for the means test lines. The net income should be the same after you do the math.

3) I would do the P&L's now... makes figuring out your income for a business easy and there will be no questions on how you figured the business income.

[spanky]

Additional Question

Thanks so much.

I noticed this in the court manual:

(B) Debt Repayment Plan, if one is prepared by credit counselor (required if the debtor is an individual)

Our credit counselor didn't prepare a plan. Is this going to be a problem? This is the first time I've seen that this is "required".


Also this:



I'm filing in February, so do I include all the paystubs I have or just Dec-Jan?

Thanks again!

[mtbc]

While I'd normally take (W) literally some districts can have weird interpretations that stretch the plain reading of the statutes. I included some extra pay advices and nobody seemed to mind; that might be the kind of procedural thing your court's law clerk can happily answer.

With (B) the first "if" is key. They didn't do such a repayment plan for me either and it hasn't (yet) been a problem. Though, they gave me a certificate that actually said they hadn't. I was glad to get Schedule I and J together before doing the course so I could nicely arrange a low enough DMI that they wouldn't produce such a plan.

[tigergem]

I didn't have a plan prepared either. They asked me if I wanted one and I said no thank you.

[spanky]

Great, thanks. That's good to know.

[Goldfish]

On Credit Counseling producing a "plan"

Hi Folks,

This is coming a bit late, but my understanding on the topic of credit counseling producing a payment plan is that there is NO payment plan if the debtor cannot afford one.

Do bear in mind that those credit counseling places are designed exactly by the 2005 law to make it more difficult to file (at least chpt 7) BK. They are funded (to some large extent?) by C/C companies, to determine whether a person can repay. If you simply cannot make reasonable payments (meaning such that it's in your budget to do so, and you can be gone with the debt after X number of years-- there is no repayment plan.

[Goldfish]

slight typo amendation

I meant that to make a repayment plan there are only a certain number of years that it should take to extinquish the debt. If your debt is so large and the amount you can pay so small, then it is not possible to make a reasonable repayment plan for you.
[sorry for the absence of the "not"]