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Should I Inform My Tax Preparer About My Bankruptcy Case?

1 minute read Upsolve is a nonprofit that helps you get out of debt with education and free debt relief tools, like our bankruptcy filing tool. Think TurboTax for bankruptcy. Get free education, customer support, and community. Featured in Forbes 4x and funded by institutions like Harvard University so we'll never ask you for a credit card.  Explore our free tool


In a Nutshell

Yes, you should tell your tax preparer about your bankruptcy filing. Your bankruptcy trustee may need to give you special instructions that your tax prepare will need to follow if you're getting a refund check. You tax preparer will need to know about this before they file your return.

Written by the Upsolve TeamLegally reviewed by Attorney Andrea Wimmer
Updated November 18, 2021


Yes. If you find out that you're owed a tax refund, your bankruptcy trustee may need to give you special instructions to follow regarding your refund check. That's why it's important to tell your tax preparer about your bankruptcy filing before they file your tax returns.

Depending on whether your refund is covered by an exemption, you may need to turn the refund over to the trustee according to their directions.

If you've already filed and just found out that you'll be getting a refund, please visit my.upsolve.org and use the "Ask Upsolve Team" feature to post a private message to the team. Doing so lets Upsolve know that you need instructions on how to use our free web app to prepare an amendment that adds the refund to your petition.



Written By:

The Upsolve Team

Upsolve is fortunate to have a remarkable team of bankruptcy attorneys, as well as finance and consumer rights professionals, as contributing writers to help us keep our content up to date, informative, and helpful to everyone.

Attorney Andrea Wimmer

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Andrea practiced exclusively as a bankruptcy attorney in consumer Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases for more than 10 years before joining Upsolve, first as a contributing writer and editor and ultimately joining the team as Managing Editor. While in private practice, Andrea handled... read more about Attorney Andrea Wimmer

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