Bankruptcy

A NEW Question at the First Meetings of Creditors in Arizona!

By Joseph McDaniel, Esq.

A new question from the trustees, to be specific.

The question follows: "Are the copies of tax returns true and correct copies of tax returns that you actually filed with the IRS and the State of Arizona?"

I was astonished.

Sounds to me as though some half-bright boyo thought he could get away with keeping a tax refund that he received AFTER the filing of the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case by the simple expedient of giving the bankruptcy trustee in his case some cooked tax returns.

Now, that's just plain dumb.

Think about it for a minute.

When you're trying to be cute with an interim bankruptcy trustee who has been appointed in your case, you're being cute with the U.S. Trustee's Office, which is for practical purposes a wholly-owned subsidiary of the U.S. Attorney's Office.

And what finances the operations of the U.S. Attorney's Office?

Why, that would be the same Internal Revenue Service to which the debtor sent the legit tax returns.

So he would get a tax refund.

Which he was trying to withhold from the trustee appointed in his bankruptcy case by giving that trustee a phony tax return.

So do you thing you'll just get lost in the sauce if you send a phony tax return to your trustee?

I don't think so.

I believe that if you give a phony tax return to the bankruptcy trustee in your case, you deserve everything that will ultimately happen to you.

Because you are not an honest debtor with overwhelming debts, and you do not deserve to get your discharge.

And I am absolutely cranky, as well, with anybody who makes everybody at the First Meeting sit thorough more questions than needed.

Some people have kids, you know?

NOTHING HERE CONSTITUTES LEGAL ADVICE RE A CHAPTER 7, CHAPTER 13, CHAPTER 11, OR CHAPTER 12. FIND AN ARIZONA BANKRUPTCY LAWYER WHO IS BOARD CERTIFIED IN BANKRUPTCY LAW, AV RATED, AVVO 10 RATED, ON SUPERLAWYERS, OR JUST VERY EXPERIENCED AND A FORMER CHAIR OF SOME BANKRUPTCY SECTION OR COMMITTEE. NOTHING HERE MAY BE USED AS LEGAL ADVICE IN CONNECTION WITH ANY BANKRUPTCY, WHETHER THAT BANKRUPTCY IS IN PHOENIX, GLENDALE, TEMPE, MESA, SCOTTSDALE, OR ANYWHERE ELSE.

Full post as published by Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog on June 11, 2010 (boomark / email).