It’s tax season and tax myths are everywhere. Know what the most dangerous one is? If you can’t pay the tax on the return, you’ll escape collection action if you keep a low profile by not filing the return. I hear it repeatedly, each year, year after year. And it’s wrong, over and over. Wrong…
I’ve always assumed that California law excluded from income debt forgiven in bankruptcy, just as federal tax law does. When a client asked me to confirm that the treatment was the same, I realized that this was one of those things I had just assumed.? As a lawyer, I ought to know the danger…
It’s not the foreclosing creditor that really threaten California homeowners.? It’s the forces that follow, the junior lender and the tax man who can deliver the truly punishing blows to a family losing a home. Cut-off Junior Lienholders Californians enjoy the protection of the one action rule governing foreclosures.? It says that a creditor who…
In the tug o war of which creditor to pay, why is it that credit cards win over taxes and child support? I’m accustomed to clients who pay creditors rather than provide for their own health care, emergency fund, or retirement.? That’s taking care of commitments to others before self. But I haven’t figured out…
Insolvency is one of the exceptions to the rule that you must include cancelled debt in taxable income. The huge difference between the IRS treatment and the way we address insolvency in bankruptcy is that the IRS includes retirement assets in the solvency calculation. The last time I wrote about cancellation of debt and the…
It’s bad enough when the client loses their home to foreclosure, but it’s a double whammy when the tax bill arrives for money they never saw.? Scope out the tax traps in the world of indebted clients at a 2 hour workshop for lawyers and tax professionals April 9 at Lincoln Law School. Be prepared…
