Anyone gone through a bankruptcy audit?
I know under the 2005 BK law revisions, you are only allowed to keep one radio, one TV, and one computer. (Under the federal exemptions; I don't know if these restrictions also apply to state exemptions where the filer is using those.)
But, how do they know how many TVs, etc, you own, without going through your stuff? Or when you acquired the item, maybe, after the case was discharged. (My understanding is there is a time lag in the audits - correct me if I am wrong.)
I would think, with the lousy economy, BK filings must be mushrooming, and they wouldn't have the resourses to audit as many as they used to.
I am very new to the whole BK process but I have never heard of
I am very new to the whole BK process but I have never heard of a BK audit or them coming to inspect your stuff... the exemptions vary by state; at least in VA household goods is lumped into one group and a total value is placed on it... you should check your state exemptions. As far as how do they know - to best of my knowledge it is through the paperwork you complete and submit.
bk audit
When we went to court, our case was referred for an "abuse" audit. The trustee questioned why our monthly gas bill was $300!!???? That was crazy-three hundred was actually low-balling it! Anyway, it was passed on to the US Trustee to be reviewed. It took about a month or so, but came back ok. No abuse found. No one ever contacted us, came to our house, or anything but it did hold up our discharge for about a month.
audits
Basically, audits come it two species - the one where they see something that doesn't seem right (the abuse audit above) where they investigate to make sure everything is in line, and the random audit, where they have picked your case out of 1000 others to refer to an outside auditing firm. You give them the documents that you gave your lawyer, or, that you referred to if you filed pro se, so they can run the numbers against what you filed in your schedules. If they see anything that needs further investigation, they ask for further documents. If you accurately stated your numbers and didn't hide anything, nothing happens; it is just a double-check type mechanism. No one usually comes to check at your house. I have never heard of that happening. However, if they think you are lying, they could request an accounting of personal property, especially if they saw you bought a lot of TVs or electronic equipment from Best Buy and listed on a single TV on your schedule B.
bkatty, would a question about the value of real estate trigger
bkatty, would a question about the value of real estate trigger an abuse audit? Here's my situation: I own my house free and clear (inherited the property). What's it worth? The tax auditor said almost $200K. But I talked to a realtor last year who said I would be lucky to get 25% of that. I did challenge the tax appraisal and got it down below $100K, but it's still too high above market value. I suspect that with the
continued real estate crisis, it may be worth less than when I talked to the realtor, maybe even below my state's exemption level.
I'm sure that I would have to hire an appraiser for BK, otherwise the BK court would rely on the county's tax value. That will cost $300-400 that I don't have.
But even with an appraisal, would a large discrepency between that appraisal and the county's tax value trigger an audit? I wouldn't want to be accused of BK fraud, which has
criminal penalties.
USTrustees auditing me I think because I am over median and have
USTrustees auditing me I think because I am over median and have $250K unsecured.
I have to provide bank statements, they are getting records from Credit card companies, have to prove expenses etc - my atty says they have to make a report on high unsecured and should close out audit once they find all OK, which indeed it is.
Well it's been over 2 weeks now since I sent them all the stuff
Well it's been over 2 weeks now since I sent them all the stuff they wanted (the US Trustees) - so far not a word out of them.. Major handwringing time here, just in case they decide to make me jump through more hoops..
Audit
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anonymous USTrustees auditing me I think because I am over median and have $250K unsecured. I have to provide bank statements, they are getting records from Credit card companies, have to prove expenses etc - my atty says they have to make a report on high unsecured and should close out audit once they find all OK, which indeed it is. |
What did they ask from you? How far back did they dig? I am preparing to file chap 7 and I have about $250K of unsecure debt as well. I had those debt over a year already. Most were incured in 2008.
1 yr on bank statements, cancelled checks, leases, car purchase,
1 yr on bank statements, cancelled checks, leases, car purchase, mortgage - everything you could think of - they wanted 3 yrs from the CC companies
Well I never heard back from the UST and the deadline passed, so
Well I never heard back from the UST and the deadline passed, so guess everything checked out. There are actually 2 types of 'audits' the UST does - one is the random audit where an outside firm audits you on behalf of the UST - you find out about that pretty quickly after filing I guess. The second time is the kind the UST conducts where they see something that interests them - high debt, high income, anything that might need verifying in their estimation or indication you can be pushed into a 13 (or worst case have your bk dismissed). This can be filed with the court as a presumption of abuse or other motion, or as in my case, not show up on Pacer at all - just be a letter to my attorney asking for just about everything going back at least a year, credit card statements going back 3 including the original application (they asked the cc companies for this directly, with my notarized agreement). Accordijg to my attorney if they decide all is ok they send all the stuff back. I think they have the usual 60 days after the 341 meeting to object if they're going to.