Mortgage Modifications in Bankruptcy

Whether in a chapter 13 plan, waiting for your discharge in a chapter 7 or just starting the bankruptcy process, now is a good time to wade into the mortgage modification morass. While in bankruptcy, your lender will need consent from your attorney to speak with you. FreshStart Law Office provides a monitoring service through a third party web portal that may help streamline the process for certain lenders.

Income tax withholding

Income Tax Withholding

Your income tax refund is not a savings account. Ideally you should be writing the IRS a $150.00 check each April 15 rather then giving the government use of your money interest free.

If you receive an EIC refund AND ARE CERTAIN you will receive one in the coming year then you should decrease your withholding to zero as you will not be paying any Federal taxes.

Opting out of debt

The FACTA law permits individuals to "opt out" of unsolicited offers for new debt, sales and junkmail generally, much like the "do not call" list we should all be on. The link https://www.optoutprescreen.com allows you to opt out for five years from all solicitations including credit cards.

1099 received regarding discharged debt

Some creditors have sent 1099 forms to to debtors purporting to have "forgiven" the debt that was actually discharged. The problem is the IRS also receives the form and expects it to be listed as "taxable income" on your 1040 tax return.