Why does tax season put me in mind of September Song ? Oh, the days dwindle down, to a precious few…. A precious few days to make your contribution to tax advantaged retirement accounts. Or, do you tap your foot to a different song: Do You Believe in Magic? Do you expect that finances in your old […]
Find The Hidden Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction In Bankruptcy
Is your Chapter 13 plan paying back mortgage payments that were delinquent when you filed bankruptcy? If so, a mortgage interest tax deduction lurks, unclaimed, in the trustee’s records. Track down that tax deduction, add it to your tax return, and you reduce your federal income tax burden. But it’s difficult because, for reasons I […]
Tax Deductions Hidden In Chapter 13
Don’t miss the tax deductions hiding in your Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The same, very important debts that your Chapter 13 plan pays are often tax deductible. And you are still the person who’s paying, even if the trustee writes the check. Don’t miss out on those deductions. Tax deductions in bankruptcy Let’s look at some […]
Californians Can Now Keep Their Cars After Bankruptcy Without Reaffirmation
New California law, effective January 1, 2023, eliminates the need for bankruptcy debtors to reaffirm car loans in order to avoid repossession. Now, you can keep your car after bankruptcy, so long as you keep the payments current, without reaffirming the debt. Until now, reaffirmation had the effect of giving up the discharge as to […]
We Live In An Economic House Of Cards
I’ve long said to bankruptcy clients that bankruptcy can’t fix an income problem, it can just ameliorate an outgo problem. In the last round of frantic bankruptcy filings a decade ago, one symptom seemed to be that too many families in the Silicon Valley couldn’t really afford to live a middle class life here. They […]
Does Bankruptcy Bar Retirement Savings?
Ongoing retirement saving by Chapter 13 debtors has been a touchy subject since the means test became a part of the bankruptcy scene. The means test was intended to squeeze every available dollar from consumer debtors. It works by limiting the expenses that can be deducted from income in figuring what a debtor can/must pay […]
Your Vote, Your Voice
Government is serious work. For it to work well, it requires lawmakers who take those responsibilities seriously. Making laws requires making choices and expressing values. The rest of us live with those choices. As a bankruptcy lawyer, I live day to day with the vindictive and creditor friendly choices the Congress made in 2005 when […]
Pay Down Debt Or Save? Which Should Come First
Pay off debt first or start saving now? It’s a debate almost as convoluted as which came first, the chicken or the egg? Experts heatedly take opposite sides. You get rid of debt faster if you put all available cash into paying off balances. BUT You have no reserves for the unexpected if you spend everything that […]
7 Essentials For Better Results From Filing Bankruptcy
Plan before filing bankruptcy and you get better, more certain relief. Even if you’re not quite sure that you’re ready to take the bankruptcy plunge, scout the bankruptcy territory. Take some time to learn the rules and explore ways to maximize the relief available in bankruptcy. If you don’t plan ahead and just rush into […]
What Can Bankruptcy Do About Back Taxes
Bankruptcy wipes out taxes and leaves you with a clean slate. But somehow, the second biggest myth about bankruptcy is that taxes can’t be discharged. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The limits on discharging taxes in bankruptcy are few. You can’t discharge That’s it. Like anything in the law, there are details that make for hard reading. […]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- …
- 15
- Next Page »
