If a debtor sells property for less than full market value before filing bankruptcy, the law considers this a form of theft from the bankruptcy estate: the Bankruptcy Trustee could have sold it for more money to pay off the debtor’s creditors. But, sometimes Sebastian the Feline Paralegal’s explanations are more fun to read. Read more »
September 3, 2021
When you file a a chapter 7 bankruptcy, everything you own and owe is legally transferred to a Bankruptcy Trustee, who can then use your assets to pay your debts. Read more »
August 26, 2021
The IRS and the FTB don’t negotiate tax debt. Neither agency will write off a dime of tax debt because the taxpayer asks it to. Their missions are to collect taxes owed equally from taxpayer, and to inflict financial pain to do so because there can’t be favoritism in collecting taxes owed. Read more »
August 17, 2021
Is it true that there is no law requiring payment of income tax? After all, many tax protesters assert this. And, in my 10 years as an attorney for the IRS, I came across several particularly colorful protesters, including one who attempted to evade taxes by claiming he was a ship. Seriously. Read more »
August 11, 2021
A client spoke IRS with an IRS revenue officer about his payroll tax issue (before he found me). The revenue officer said not to worry about it, that my client’s matter wasn’t a high priority, and that they thus had time to work things out. But two weeks later the IRS levied on his payroll account, despite what the revenue officer said. Read more »
July 29, 2021
There’s an almost rapturous feeling that my bankruptcy clients feel when they hear “discharged” about their debts in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. Read more »
July 21, 2021
Ninety-nine percent of bankruptcies are “no-asset” cases. The Trustee talks to the debtor, looks at their schedules, and determines that the debtor truly has nothing worth selling. Read more »
July 16, 2021
Here’s a story, with lessons, of how putting your social security number on a minor child’s account can go wrong. Read more »
July 6, 2021
Many of my clients are embarrassed to be considering bankruptcy. I get it. But there’s a huge upside to bankruptcy. Don’t trust me? Why not see what Sebastian, my Feline Paralegal, has to say Read more »
June 29, 2021
I enthusiastically applaud President Biden’s proposal to increase the IRS’s budget by $1.2 billion, or more than 10 percent over this year’s budget. In fact, call me a huge cheerleader for this proposal. Read more »
June 24, 2021
