How Do I Request My Tax Transcripts Online?
One of the most important documents we need in order to file your bankruptcy are copies of your tax returns for the last 4 years. We must have both federal and state. If you cannot find your tax returns, check with your tax preparer or ask the IRS or State for a copy of your returns. You may order a tax transcript online from the IRS website. Transcripts are free and you can get them for the current year and the past three years. You can download and print your transcript immediately or request the transcript be mailed to your address on record.
What Happens If I Owe Taxes While In A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy?
When you file for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, there may be a chance you could end up owing taxes over the three to five years that you are in the bankruptcy. If you do happen to owe taxes while in a chapter 13 bankruptcy, the IRS or State that you owe may file a proof of claim. This is a legal document that states how much you owe a creditor. Depending on the amount you owe, the bankruptcy Trustee may need to increase your payments. The amount that the payments would increase depends on how much you owe.
In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, taxes owed are paid back in full. Depending on what you end up owing, your payments could end up needing to be increased to ensure you pay back everything owed in taxes before your bankruptcy is closed. Your attorney and the Trustee will typically work this out and let you know what the payments will end up being.
To ensure the greatest chance of success in your Chapter 13 bankruptcy you should be sure you try to fix your deductions so you are breaking even each year. Ideally, you don’t want to get a large refund each year (the Trustee could take this if you do) and you don’t want to owe each year because that could cause your monthly payments to increase to an amount more than you can afford within your Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
So what’s the bottom line? Fix your deductions so you don’t continually owe more in taxes over the course of your bankruptcy. If you do owe, contact your attorney and they can work with the Chapter 13 Trustee and the taxing agency to try to ensure you can stay within your Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
Am I Personally Responsible for the Taxes Owed On My Business?
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses a basic logic that if you have any signing authority over the business bank account, then you can be held personally responsible for certain taxes owed by that business. So, yes, if you own a business or part of a business, be prepared to pay certain accrued taxes. This is especially true if you have a sole proprietorship. Additionally, no matter what type of business you own or owned, you also need to be careful when it comes to taxes that you should have paid as an employer – for example, the necessary taxes you pay to the government for your employees (social security, etc.). These can later be assessed as “civil penalties” which you are personally responsible for, even if the business later dissolves.
The general rule when it comes to taxes is that the government – state or federal – almost always gets paid.
What if you have dissolved the company? Unfortunately, dissolving a business will not eliminate any tax debt or liability. Even filing bankruptcy will not take care of all taxes. Generally speaking, the only time taxes may be wiped out in a bankruptcy is if they were filed three years prior to the bankruptcy filing date. The civil penalties mentioned above are also taxes that you can be personally responsible for even if the business has been dissolved.
If you owe a large amount to the government for taxes and are having a hard time coming to terms for a payment plan with the IRS, you may want to look into filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which is a structured repayment plan. This will keep the penalties from accruing and enlarging your original balance owed.
If your business is still operational, you may look into reorganizing your business debt in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The bottom line is that even though you can still be held personally responsible for certain business taxes, you are not limited to repaying your taxes outside of bankruptcy. Certain types of bankruptcy may actually be a better alternative for you when it comes to setting up a repayment plan.
Do My Taxes Have To Be Filed Before Filing for Bankruptcy?
You will notice when you are filling out your paperwork that the court asks you for what seems to be a billion pieces of documentation ranging from copies of bills, papers from purchases, income advices and federal and state taxes. These documents are asked for to verify information you are providing is true and accurate.
However, what happens if you haven’t filed your taxes? Can you still go through the bankruptcy process or must your taxes be done beforehand? The answer is you must have all prior tax years filed and received by the IRS and state in order to file the bankruptcy. There are several reasons why taxes are required to be filed and received before filing your bankruptcy.
The Bankruptcy Trustee, Bankruptcy Court and Bankruptcy Administrator Require It
As your attorney, are required to send a copy of your most recent tax year to the bankruptcy Trustee. If they do not get the taxes before the 341 creditor’s meeting then they technically has the right to dismiss your case. When April 15th (or the appropriate deadline depending on the year) hits, the bankruptcy Trustee will expect taxes to be filed as completed. What if you’ve received an extension? Even if you have received an extension, if you are filing bankruptcy you need to file the taxes before filing for bankruptcy. This does not mean you have to pay on taxes owed but they at least need to be filed.
The Bankruptcy Administrator’s office randomly elects cases to audit. They do this to ensure bankruptcy lawyers are performing their duties but also to ensure clients are providing accurate information. It is similar to being audited by a taxing agency. If your case is randomly selected to be audited then we are required to provide those documents.
Taxing Agencies Want to Ensure Taxes Are Completed
In addition to the bankruptcy Trustee and bankruptcy court needing to see evidence of your tax filings – the taxing agencies, the Internal Revenue Service and the North Carolina Department of Revenue, also will receive notice of your bankruptcy filing and want to make sure information you are reporting is accurate. Once they have word that you have filed a bankruptcy they will reassess your prior year’s taxes to make sure they are completed. If they are not, they can object to your discharge until they have been completed. If a creditor, such as a taxing agency, objects to your discharge it means your case will be held open longer. The longer your case is open, the longer it takes to get your financial freedom.
Filing Taxes Allows You to Accurately Budget Repayments
Just like any other debt you have in your bankruptcy – the amount owed for taxes has an impact on your bankruptcy filing. If you have not filed your taxes, and you are filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, then you have no way of knowing what you owe, and cannot go ahead and budget a repayment plan going forward. If you file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, and you have not filed taxes yet, then the IRS or NCDOR is going to estimate what you will owe them and file a Proof of Claim for un-assessed returns. Oftentimes, the taxing agencies file the proof of claim as a worst-case scenario on your taxes, which typically, means the amount is overstated which can cause an increase in your Chapter 13 plan payment. If you file your taxes then the IRS can use the amount of taxes owed to file a more accurate proof of claim, which may increase your chances of success in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
The bottom line is, yes you have to file your taxes before filing your bankruptcy. We understand that it’s a pain to have to dig through your paperwork, retrieve the documents, make copies and bring them to us, but the government requires it as part of your bankruptcy documentation.
