It depends on several factors. Call a bankruptcy attorney to determine whether your taxes can be discharged in bankruptcy.

Answer Applies to: California
Replied: 10/19/2010

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

Generally, most tax debts cannot be wiped out in bankruptcy and you will still owe them at the end of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case and you may have to repay them in full in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case. Federal income tax debts may be discharged in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy if certain conditions are met such as:

The taxes are income taxes. Taxes other than income, such as payroll taxes or fraud penalties, can never be eliminated in bankruptcy.

You did not commit fraud or willful evasion. If you filed a fraudulent tax return or otherwise willfully attempted to evade paying taxes, such as using a false Social Security number on your tax return, bankruptcy can't help.

The debt is at least three years old. To eliminate a tax debt, the tax return must have been originally due at least three years before you filed for bankruptcy.

You filed a tax return. You must have filed a tax return for the debt you wish to discharge at least two years before filing for bankruptcy.

You pass the "240-day rule." The income tax debt must have been assessed by the IRS at least 240 days before you file your bankruptcy petition, or must not have been assessed yet. (This time limit may be extended if the IRS suspended collection activity because of an offer in compromise or a previous bankruptcy filing.)

You may contact our office to schedule an appointment if you have further questions or if you need assistance with this issue. You can also schedule an appointment or obtain additional information at our website.

Answer Applies to: Ohio
Replied: 10/19/2010

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

Bankruptcy does nothing to deal with debts owed in a criminal context, so if the state is actually bringing criminal charges against you, you need to hire a criminal attorney.

Assuming you simply owe taxes and there is no criminal aspect to it, they are dischargeable if they meet certain requirements.

The minimum requirements are (1) it has been more than 3 years since the returns were last DUE (including extensions) to be filed, (2) the returns were timely filed _or_ it has been at least 2 years since the returns were filed, (3) there was no fraud involved or attempts to evade the tax, AND, (4) the taxes were not assessed within the last 240 days.

Answer Applies to: California
Replied: 10/18/2010

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.

Taxes are very hard to discharge. You need to consult a tax expert to se if you can discharge taxes.

Answer Applies to: California
Replied: 10/18/2010

Disclaimer: The response above does not form an attorney-client relationship. This answer may or may not apply to you and should not be relied upon as legal advice. LawQA does not make any representation as to the expertise or qualifications of this attorney. This attorney may or may not be admitted to state bar of your state.