Abstract:
The 2005 amendments to the Bankruptcy Code, Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) was enacted in order to improve bankruptcy law. However, BAPCPA has made the issue of whether late-filed taxes are dischargeable even murkier than before the amendments. After BAPCPA, some courts continued to analyze claims as they had before the amendment. Others used a “one-day-late rule” that prevented late-filed taxes from being dischargeable — even if the taxes were filed only one day late. This Article suggests a different approach. It argues that the legislature intended tax debt associated with late-filed income tax returns be dischargeable if the return is filed within two years of the due date.
Commentary:
This article provides a complete survey of the case law relating to late filed tax returns, with recommendations for statutory changes that mirror those by both NACBA and the ABI Consumer Bankruptcy Commission Report.
For a copy of the article, please click here:
Bankruptcy Law — Rethinking the Discharge of Late Filed Taxes in Consumer Bankruptcy
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