Oh dear god..ami gona hv to do this all over again?

[felice]

HEY
IT JUST HIT ME AS I WAS ALMOST FINISHED WITH THESE FORMSSS.
22A MEANS TEST..OK IN THE 6 MONTHS PRIOR TO FILING I RCVD STUDENT LOAN DISBURSEMENT...AM I SUPPOSED TO ADD THAT IN AS INCOME?? BECAUSE I DID NOT....HELP!

[Exployer1234]

Yes, you have to add the student loan disbursement into your income. Sorry, but it does count.

[felice]

Thanks..tho not the answer i was lookin for.. I included my income tax i got in jan as well...is that correct?

[Exployer1234]

Yes you do have to include your tax return as well.

[felice]

thank u so much. i just corrected it and i still passed the means test...whew!

[Exployer1234]

That is always a good thing! i wish I did not have to count my loan and tax return as income, it did not make a difference on my BK for chapter 7 though.

[katfzl]

Student loans are counted as income? I didn't think that was the case, as they have to be paid back...

[justbroke]

Student loans are counted as income? I didn't think that was the case, as they have to be paid back...

This depends on your District. Generally, any "excess" amount after paying tuition, books, fees, etc, may be considered income for purposes of the "current monthly income" calculation in the Means Test.

[katfzl]

This depends on your District. Generally, any "excess" amount after paying tuition, books, fees, etc, may be considered income for purposes of the "current monthly income" calculation in the Means Test.

Filing in Arkansas under Federal exemptions. Do I count them?

[MBTH]

It's a tax REFUND, not a return. The return is the paperwork that you file. How is the refund counted as income, since it's a REFUND of overpaid taxes? It's not additional income.

[justbroke]

It's a tax REFUND, not a return. The return is the paperwork that you file. How is the refund counted as income, since it's a REFUND of overpaid taxes? It's not additional income.

It's income that wasn't paid as taxes... that's why it's considered "overwithheld" income. This argument that it's a refund, and not income, has been argued and re-argued and the outcome is the same. A tax refund is nothing more than an "overwithholding" of income. There are some parts of a tax refund that are excluded from that definition, but those are things like the child tax credit and earned income credit, since they are "refundable" credits.

[MBTH]

Thanks... that makes some sense, but I still don't understand how it can be reported as income if it's already reported. If I make $30,000 gross, any refund of taxes overpaid is still a part of the gross income. It's still income that I've already reported. Reporting a refund as income seems like it's reporting the same money twice.

[wipetheslate]

Don't forget that on the means test you subtract taxes. So if you were having too much withheld (i.e., you were entitled to a refund), your means test calculation should be lower. So you're not so much as counting the income twice as you are adjusting for the amount of taxes that are subtracted.

[MBTH]

Okay, that makes sense, thanks! I didn't overly concern myself with the means test in our case because we are well, well below the limits. Plus... we don't get refunds because my husband receives SSDI and I've been running my own micro-businesses -- so we always owe at tax time.

[felice]

i did redo the ppwk and count it as income..ive had my 341 meeting everything went well..i paid the remaining filing fee due(i req installments) and i received the trustees report of no distribution so now im just patiently waiting on discharge!