Category Archives: Taxes

How Much Time Will Your Tax Refund Buy You?

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Every year people use their tax refunds to get caught up on their credit cards. That is great, except all too often it isn’t enough. Sure, it buys them 30 days, maybe 60 before the car needs new brakes or the Fridge dies or somebody winds up in the emergency room with hundreds in co-pays. Suddenly, they are struggling to make the minimum payments again.

If your tax refund isn’t enough to pay it all off — or even most of it off, maybe it is time to think about other options. If the pandemic taught us anything, it is that life is too short to spend it tied to debt we can’t outrun.

Call me at 405-842-8005 or email me at dowlinglawoffice@aol.com. Let’s see what we can do about putting you back in control.

Elaine

More GMX Resources Lawsuits

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Last week I wrote about stockholders in GMX Resources who were being sued as part of its bankruptcy for the recovery of dividends that they received prior to the bankruptcy filings. There are a ton of those cases filed. I haven’t spent a lot of time with the consolidated docket, but it looks like there were just under 200 Adversary Proceedings filed to recover property or payments of some kind in this Bankruptcy. About half of those were filed against owners of Preferred Stock, and I wrote about those last week. It appears that the other half were filed against people, or more frequently companies, who had received what are called Preferential Transfers; and I thought I this would be a good excuse to explain preferential transfers.

Preferential transfers are the product of two policies: 1. To make sure that when someone files for bankruptcy all creditors who have similar legal rights wind up getting treated essentially the same way; and 2. To encourage creditors to give debtors a bit of room to get back on their feet when they start to show signs of financial trouble.

Here are two examples of that. There is a natural inclination when you know you are sinking fast to want to repay loans from people you care about rather than those you might not. So, when that tax refund comes in, and you know you need to file for bankruptcy, are you going to repay the loan from your Mom or a credit card account? Well, yea, of course you are; but in terms of good policy, it isn’t fair for Mom to get better treatment than any other creditor.

This leads us directly into the next reason. If one creditor can get paid when no one else does and that creditor gets to keep the money, then at the first sign of trouble there will be a rush to squeeze money out of the Debtor – a virtual feeding frenzy if you will. Now, consider this in the context of a small business. Something bad happens. The business falls behind on paying its bills. At the first sign of trouble, all of its creditors take immediate steps to make sure that they get paid. The business collapses, because it lacks sufficient cash flow to keep the doors open.

Whereas, if the creditors had given the business 60 or 90 days to find its feet, the business might have stabilized, paid all its creditors, stayed in business, and continued providing an income for its employees and its owner. When you think about it, this kind of thing happens in the life of virtually all small businesses; and as it happens, creditors usually do give businesses time to get back on their feet – but they aren’t doing that at the risk that someone else will be less understanding and wind up with all the money and no one else will get anything. No. Creditors give debtors a chance to get back on their feet, because they know that if someone else doesn’t and the business files for bankruptcy, the money the greedy creditor got will be taken back and distributed out equally.

The tool for recovering those funds? Why an avoidance action to recover a preferential transfer, of course. This is a tool that bankruptcy trustees use frequently. If a Debtor’s wages are garnished in the 90 days before a bankruptcy? Well, that is one creditor getting paid and making sure no one else does. The trustee can take that money back. This is actually kind of nice when a debtor is being garnished and he owes recent taxes. When the trustee takes the garnished wages back, the first creditor he pays is the taxing authority.

There are defenses to preferential transfers, just like there are to fraudulent transfers. There are also times when it can be in a debtor’s best interests to have a Trustee recover preferential transfers. The nice thing about preferential transfers from the Debtor’s perspective is that the window for the transfer is generally quite short. Unless the transfer was made to (or benefited) an insider (like family), the transfer has to have been made within 90 days of the bankruptcy filing. That is a time period that can usually be waited out if necessary. Of course, if the transfer was to a family member, then the look back period is a year. That can be harder to wait out, although I have done it twice in the recent past.

The worst thing you can do about any type of transfer if you are getting ready to file for bankruptcy is to not tell your lawyer about it. I promise you, what he doesn’t know will hurt you.

Elaine

Afraid to File Your Taxes?

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Trust me. I get it. Lots of us are afraid to file our tax returns – well, ok, afraid to prepare them may be closer to the truth; but, trust me, I get it.

– and it just got worse.

Not filing your taxes has always been bad. Filing late has always had some consequences, but most of them were manageable. Now, there is a new one.

In the last week of 2014 the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals handed down an opinion agreeing with an earlier decision from the 5th Circuit. So far, they are the only two circuits to hear this particular issue; and they agree. This is not good.

Here is the problem. Generally, speaking income taxes are dischargeable in a bankruptcy proceeding provided that they meet certain requirements. Like with anything involving either the Bankruptcy Code or the Tax Code (let alone both), there are more rules, limitations and exceptions to the basic rules than holes in Swiss cheese. Still, generally speaking, if the taxes meet certain age tests they are dischargeable in a bankruptcy filing – any chapter. Well, the 10th Circuit, following the 5th, has added a new wrinkle.

According to these Courts if the returns were filed so much as a day after they are due, the taxes on those returns are never dischargeable in a Bankrutpcy. Of course, if they are filed before the expiration of a properly granted extension, they are not late. If they are filed after the extension expires, however, or if no extension is granted; then, we have a whole new problem.

I have a case right now where a client has filed a bankruptcy, and taxes are a major part of the debt. I just went through every one of her tax transcripts. One of those returns was filed late. Anywhere inside the 5th or 10th Circuits the taxes on that return are not only not dischargeable in this Bankruptcy – they will never be eligible for a discharge. Oh, and the date on that return? Filed less than two weeks after April 15, and no request for extension was filed.

This seriously sucks.

Elaine

Your Bankruptcy Trustee Can Pay Your Taxes For You

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Occasionally, I run into a situation where a client needs to file for bankruptcy, maybe even needs to file NOW; but – they have non-exempt assets. Now, in Oklahoma we have pretty generous exemptions, and most people who file for Bankruptcy lose nothing but a bunch of debt. Occasionally, though, I run into someone with mineral interests, a significant amount of jewelry (our wearing apparel exemption is generous, but a $35,000 ring that isn’t your wedding or engagement ring is going to be a problem); and they still need to file. This is a problem.

Usually, given a little time we can find a solution that the client is happy with. This is what is called pre-bankruptcy planning, and it is tricky. There are plenty of things that you can do with an asset right before a bankruptcy filing that your Trustee can just undo. There are other things you can do that will get you into real trouble – losing your discharge, going to jail. This is not an area to mess around with if you don’t know what you are doing. Still, generally, given time, there are things that can be done to protect a non-exempt asset.

So, what happens when you don’t have time? Sometimes you need to file NOW. In those cases you file the case knowing that the Trustee is going to administer whatever the asset is. Several years ago, I filed a Chapter 7, and first thing the next morning was emailing the freshly appointed Trustee (who didn’t even know she was the trustee yet) wanting to know when would be convenient for my client to deliver approximately $50,000 in jewelry to her office. She was a little taken aback. In this particular case the client didn’t want the jewelry and had made some efforts to sell it but had not been successful.

Consequently, he was thrilled when I asked him if he would like to have the Trustee pay his taxes with the proceeds from the jewelry he didn’t want and hadn’t been able to sell.

Here is the scoop. We filed for what is called a short tax year. It is perfectly legitimate, although it is very rarely done. Basically, my client filed two tax returns for the year in which he filed for Bankruptcy. He filed one return for the calendar year up to the day he filed for bankruptcy, and he filed a second return for the remainder of the calendar year. We did this, because he had made no estimated quarterly payments prior to filing for bankruptcy; and his income for that period had been substantial.

By doing this we converted his tax liability for that first, short-year, return into a liability of his Bankruptcy estate that was entitled to priority – meaning it got paid first. He still had to pay the tax liability for the rest of the year, but that was only about a quarter of the year’s total tax liability. So, he got his Bankruptcy Trustee to liquidate stuff he didn’t want and use the proceeds to pay three quarters of his taxes for the year. Now, that is pretty sweet.

Elaine

What Will I Have to Pay in a Chapter 13?

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A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy is basically a modified payment plan where you can restructure certain kinds of secured debt, get current on secured debt on which you have fallen behind (like a house or a car) and pay some percentage of your general, unsecured debt (like medical bills and credit cards).

Let me begin by saying that SOME percentage of your unsecured debt means just that – SOME. I say that to clients in my office, and they almost universally translate the word some to mean all. They are not synonyms. The actual percentage paid by most Chapter 13 debtors is closer to zero percent than it is to 100%, and most of us can afford to pay 0%.

So, what does that actually mean?

There are two primary factors that determine how much money you will have to pay to make a Chapter 13 plan work. The first is determined by what is generally known as the Means Test. The Means Test is basically a worksheet where you start with your income and deduct your reasonable and necessary living expenses until you come up with an amount left over. If that figure is positive, then you will have to pay that amount each month for probably 60 months to your general unsecured creditors (the credit cards, medical bills, personal loans, that kind of debt). In other words, if you have $112 a month left over, you will have to pay $112 each month for (probably) 60 months plus 10% as a trustee fee, so $123 a month, over the life of your plan for the benefit of the general unsecured creditors. Most of my clients are paying a lot more than that on this kind of debt when they come to see me. So, for most people flunking the Means Test and having to pay something to their general, unsecured creditors is actually an improvement!

The other factor is the kind of debt that you have. If you want to keep the house and the car and you owe money on them, you are going to have to keep paying for them. This really shouldn’t be a surprise. The car, in the Western District of Oklahoma, will have to be paid through the plan; meaning that the plan payment you pay to the Trustee every month will include enough for him to make your car payment for you. If you are behind on the car at the time that you file the case, you can expect that you will catch up on it (and probably pay it off) over the life of the Chapter 13 plan.

Your house is a little different. If you are current on the house at the time that you file for bankruptcy (in this district), you may continue to pay the mortgage payment directly. However, that means completely current. So, if your mortgage payment is due on the first, and late on the 15th, That means it is due on the 1st. So, if you file bankruptcy on the 2nd, that payment had better already have been made. If you are behind on your mortgage payment, then it will be paid through the plan and the plan will include enough money to get you caught up an d current on it over the life of the plan.

If you owe other secured debt, debt that is secured by a lien on a specific piece of property, and you wish to keep the property, then that debt will have to be paid during the life of the plan. Debts that are given certain priority for payment in the Bankruptcy Code must be paid in full over the life of the plan. For most people that means recent taxes, and past due child support or alimony, these are things that have to be paid over the life of the plan. What most people expect to see listed here but isn’t is student loans. Student loans are a whole different problem in a Chapter 13 that will be addressed separately.

So, what this means is that most Chapter 13 plans pay for the house, the cars, the taxes, the child support (if any), fees to support the Trustee’s office and the Debtor’s attorneys fees. Then, there will be some amount added to be shared amongst the general, unsecured creditors who are usually everybody else. That amount is determined by the Means Test, and in many cases it is less than my clients have been paying on that debt before they filed.

Now, I don’t mean to kid you. A Chapter 13 plan is not a walk in the park. There are good reasons why only about 30% of all cases filed successfully complete. It isn’t, however, nearly as bad as clients expect it to be.

Often when clients come to see me their mortgage company is wanting a year of missed payments made up in six months or less. They are facing a wage garnishment that will take 25% of their gross income. The IRS is threatening to levy on their bank accounts. There is a repo guy out looking for their car, and the lender wants all the missed payments plus late fees, plus interest plus the repo guy’s fees by Tuesday. A Chapter 13 plan, even if it is expensive, can be a huge relief after the financial pressures most of my clients find themselves facing.

So don’t be afraid to investigate a possible Chapter 13 filing. It can do things for you that you can’t get done anywhere else, and, although, it won’t be cheap, it may be more affordable than any of your other options.

Elaine

Christmas Bills, a New Year and Bankruptcy

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There are a number of reasons why Bankruptcy filings surge after the first of the year. The New Year brings introspection and the desire to finally find a way out of the hole you have been trying to climb out of for years. Christmas bills can be the last straw. Then, of course, there is the impending tax refund, which can be a helpful way to pay for the bankruptcy filing.

There are a few things to consider, though.

First, let’s talk about Christmas bills. The general rule is that you want to wait at least 70 days and preferably 90 days after you have last used your credit cards before filing a bankruptcy. There are exceptions to this, but those are sufficiently fact specific, that you will want to talk to a lawyer about your particular facts. What you should remember is, if you haven’t already stopped using your cards – do it now, before you call the lawyer. Then, go ahead and schedule the appointment. You will want some time to get things ready to file anyway, but have a good idea what your card usage has looked like during the last 30 – 60 days so you can discuss it with your lawyer in detail.

There are actually a couple of issues with tax refunds. First of all, you will be happier if you have your tax return for the completed year prepared before you file your Bankruptcy. In some cases, you will have to have it, but you will always want to have it in hand. One reason for that is that if you have not received your tax refund before you file your bankruptcy, your Trustee may be entitled to the refund. The solution to that, of course, is to have already received it and done something constructive with it before the case is filed. I will caution you that you will want to discuss exactly what you do with that refund with your lawyer before you do it – not after. Of course, I think that one of the best things to do with that refund is to pay your attorney for filing the bankruptcy – but I might be prejudiced.

Finally, there is that decision to start a new year finally freeing yourself from the unending cycle of debt that you have been mired in. Finally, it is time to put yourself back in a place where you can take care of yourself, your family, put something aside for retirement – yes, it is time! Not so fast. Is it time? Are you through getting into trouble? If you have lost a job, do you have a stable pay check coming in? With health insurance? If you’ve had health problems, are they behind you? If so, then, yes. It is time. Time for a New Year and a new start.

Elaine

Bankruptcy Attorneys Fees – What is it that I am Paying For?

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So, when a bankruptcy attorney quotes you a fee, what is it, exactly, that you are paying for? What is included, what is not included, at some point will you have to come up with more money or be left abandoned in the midst of a Federal Court proceeding that strikes even a lot of lawyers as confusing and arcane?

The answer to that question is (drum roll, please) – that depends.

I know, and lawyers wonder why it is that people seem to think you can’t get a straight answer out of us. Sigh.

Here is the interpretation. When you hire a Bankruptcy lawyer (or anyone else for that matter) you do need to find out what it is that you are hiring him to do for you. Your attorney should give you some kind of agreement, that might be a letter, that outlines what he will do for you, what he won’t do for you and what he reserves the right to charge extra for.

Here are some things that go into a basic, consumer chapter 7 Bankruptcy:

  • Interview;
  • Explanation of Bankruptcy, the terminology, the players, what it will do for you, what it won’t do for you, assets, expenses, Means Test qualifications, explanation of different chapters;
  • Research into your facts and circumstances;
  • Advising you of any potential problems in your case and options for dealing with them;
  • Preparation of Petition, Schedules and Means test;
  • Filing the case;
  • Providing documents to the Trustee;
  • Attendance at First Meeting of Creditors;
  • Dealing with secured creditors as specified in the Statement of Intention;
  • Dealing with other creditors;
  • Responding to any requests for information from the U.S. Trustee or the Panel Trustee
  • Filing the post petition debtor education certificate.

Please, understand, that list is not intended to be all-inclusive.  That would take far too much time to put together for a blog post.  It is intended to be illustrative of the kinds of things that go into a Bankruptcy case.

Now, here are some things that aren’t included in that list, because they happen, but they don’t necessarily happen in most basic, consumer cases:

  • Pre-Bankruptcy exemption planning, i.e., converting a non-exempt asset (i.e., an asset you would lose when you file) into an exempt asset (an asset you get to keep even though you file for bankruptcy);
  • Dealing with creditors before the case is filed;
  • Adding creditors or correcting addresses after the case is filed;
  • Disclosing additional assets after the case is filed;
  • Defending a motion to dismiss or convert based on the Means Test figures;
  • Defending a Motion to dismiss for bad faith;
  • Appearing at a 2004 examination (basically, a deposition);
  • Defending other motions brought by creditors, most commonly a motion for relief from stay brought by a secured creditor who would rather have the collateral than the payments you may or may not be making timely;
  • Defending an adversary proceeding, which is basically a separate lawsuit filed within the scope of the bankruptcy;
  • Filing an adversary proceeding got for any reason including to determine if a certain debt, like some taxes, is dischargeable;
  • Determining value of assets if scheduled value challenged.

There will be considerable variance between what different attorneys do and don’t include in a flat fee, and there will be wide variance if you compare attorneys from different parts of the Country.

I don’t know anyone who includes an Adversary Proceeding in a flat fee. However, the nature of Adversary Proceedings is such that your Attorney should at least suspect one might be filed before the Bankruptcy is filed – unless there is something really important he doesn’t know about. So, that should be discussed specifically at the time the attorney quotes a fee.

I generally quote a fee that I expect will be sufficient to cover the things that I expect to come up in the case. What my fee specifically does not include, other than Adversary Proceedings, is anything that the client got wrong or should have told me about and didn’t.

The easy part of that is fixing addresses and listing additional creditors. I give my clients multiple opportunities to get their list of creditors complete, and I tell them to include all addresses that might be current or correct. So, if someone is left off and needs to be added; well, I will charge extra for that.

If a client is being sued locally odds are pretty good I will find out about it before the case is filed. If the client is being sued under a name he didn’t mention or in another jurisdiction, I might not find out about it – unless the client tells me – when I ask about other names, about lawsuits, about people who might think that the client owes them money – even if the client disagrees. If the client still doesn’t think to mention it and it becomes an issue in the Bankruptcy (and it almost certainly will), then, the client shouldn’t be surprised that I will expect additional compensation for dealing with it.

Sure, mistakes happen and omissions happen; and most of them are simple mistakes. If I make the mistake, I fix it. If the client makes the mistake, then I am going to expect the client to pay me to fix it. Sure, some mistakes and omissions can be expensive to fix (some can’t be fixed at all), but most of them can be fixed for a relatively small amount of money.

However, my fee is pretty all encompassing. Not everyone’s is, but it should be spelled out in the engagement agreement what will and won’t be covered. If it isn’t, ask. If it is, but you do’t understand it, then ask. It is your job to provide the lawyer with the information he needs. It is his job to make sure that you understand what is going on, and that includes the fee agreement.

Elaine

They Said I Can’t Bankrupt That

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I get told this a lot. Someone calls and they have talked to a loan company, a debt collector, or the guy on the next bar stool at a local dive. What I hear is, “They said I can’t bankrupt that.” Well, of course not. Bankrupt is an adjective. To Bankrupt is not a verbal – of any kind. You can be described as bankrupt, but there is no such action as to bankrupt. The moral of this story is, of course, don’t take legal advice from anyone who speaks English this poorly. In fact, don’t take legal advise from non-lawyers – especially when they are trying to get you to pay them for a debt or if you aren’t sure just how many drinks they have already had.

Now, are there debts that cannot be discharged in a Bankruptcy? Sure, and some of them you will kind of know, and there are a few that will probably surprise you.  For instance, most people are pretty comfortable with the idea that you can’t discharge child support in a Bankruptcy.

However, most people probably don’t know that you can’t discharge a debt for willfully or recklessly failing to maintain the capital of a Federally insured financial institution. Don’t worry if you don’t understand what that means, it almost certainly doesn’t apply to you.

I will concede to being a bit silly (or snarky, your call) with that last example, but the fact is that there is a section of the Bankruptcy Code (11 U.S.C. §523) that lists all of the debts you cannot discharge (or get out of) in a Bankruptcy. In the copy of the Code I keep handy, that section is five pages long, and very little of those five pages apply to the vast majority of  people with more debt than they can pay.

In fact, no matter what you have heard about the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform Act there is no general exception from discharge for credit card debt. That’s right. Despite what that debt collector told you, absent certain general restrictions, a Bankruptcy filing will still discharge most, if not all, of your credit card debt – and your medical debt – and pay day loans – and even in many cases old income taxes. Really.

The exceptions to discharge that apply most commonly  are:

  • Child support;
  • Alimony;
  • Property division or other divorce related debt (in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy);
  • Student loans;
  • Debt incurred by fraud or shortly before a Bankruptcy filing; and
  • Recent taxes (rules are complicated).

Embezzlement? Well, that is a problem. Lying on a loan application or borrowing money with someone else’s identity, forging loan documents, taking the vacation of your lifetime in Paris paid for by Visa with the intention of filing for Bankruptcy before those bills come due?  These are all at least as non-dischargeable as you should think they are.

All silliness aside, here is what you need to remember. Most people who file for bankruptcy can discharge all, or virtually all, of their debt. There is a five-page laundry list of debts that cannot be discharged in a Bankruptcy, and for the most part, none of them are simple; and most of them are not all that common. The odds are very good that no one other than an experienced bankruptcy attorney can discuss any of them with you in any detail. Most people know just enough to be dangerous about Section 523, and that includes a large number of lawyers who don’t practice bankruptcy law on a regular basis.

If you have any questions about whether or not a debt is dischargeable, ask a lawyer who practices in the Bankruptcy Courts regularly. If anyone else tells you that something is not dischargeable, take that advice with a large helping of salt – especially if they think Bankrupt is a verb.

Elaine

 

Bankruptcy, Tax Returns and Identity Theft

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Looking at the title to this post, I must say that those are not words I ever expected to be putting in one sentence — but then this morning happened.  Let me begin at the beginning.  Early this morning I got an email from a friend of mine with a link to this article:

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/03/experian-lapse-allowed-id-theft-service-to-access-200-million-consumer-records/

Evidently, some time ago Experian (one of the three major credit reporting services) bought a company called Court Ventures.  Now, from what I gleaned from Google, Court Ventures is a company that collects public record information on people.  I assume from the name that they tend to focus on court house type records.  Whether or not they are collecting Bankruptcy court records, I don’t know.  Regardless, many bankruptcy cases wind up being referenced in State Court files.  The most common reason for that is when a bankruptcy is filed and there is a pending state court case (a foreclosure, a collection case, anything like that), a Notice is filed in the state court case that the case has been stayed by the Bankruptcy filing.  This notice is sometimes called a Suggestion of Bankruptcy.  This notice includes the bankruptcy case name, case number, and the bankruptcy court in which the bankruptcy is filed.  So, if Court Ventures is collecting courthouse based public records, they are collecting bankruptcy filing notices — albeit indirectly.

Court Ventures then had a contract with another data collection company, US Info Search.  From them a Vietnamese man, who was in the ID theft business,  bought access to both US Info Search data and Court Ventures data — kind of the warehouse shopping model for Identity theft.  Ultimately, this Vietnamese man was able to sell to his customers access to names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, former addresses, phone numbers and email addresses — among other things.

The article goes into considerably more detail, and it is quite interesting and well worth reading.  Still, you might be wondering what this has to do with tax returns and bankruptcy clients.  An increasingly common form of ID theft is to file a fraudulent tax return for the victim of the ID theft in an attempt to steal the victim’s tax refund.

Shortly after reading this article this morning I received an email from a Chapter 13 client of mine letting me know that she didn’t have her tax return ready quite yet.  You see, she was working with the IRS to unravel it, but evidently someone had filed a tax return for her in an attempt to abscond with her refund.

That got me thinking.  I wonder how many bankruptcy clients assume (rightly or wrongly) that their Trustee is entitled to their tax refunds, so when the refund doesn’t appear; they don’t go looking for it?  I have had a number of clients over the years receive correspondence from the IRS that they don’t understand (and that may or may not make sense to me), but they don’t follow up on it.  They don’t call the IRS and get them to explain something to them or ask what something means or why it happened.  They just assume.

So, don’t do that.  Nobody in Vietnam deserves your refund more than you do.

Elaine