What Happens if I Don’t Receive My Workers’ Compensation Payments on Time?
Your temporary total disability check is processed each week by the workers’ compensation insurance carrier, and the check is usually processed on the same day, e.g. Friday, each week. As a result, you can anticipate consistently receiving your temporary total disability check around the same day each week.
If you do not receive your weekly check from the workers’ compensation insurance company, you may want to wait a couple of days before contacting your workers’ compensation attorney. Often a delay is caused by the insurance company having a glitch in processing the check for the week or it may simply be a delay caused by the postal service. If you have not received your check within a couple of days of the date it is expected, contact your workers’ compensation attorney’s office to let them know the check has not arrived. Your attorney will contact the workers’ compensation insurance claims adjuster to determine the status of your temporary total disability check. The problem is usually quickly corrected and the check arrives within a couple of days.
Although the delay can is frustrating and may even impact your ability to pay your bills, it is rare that an insurance company intentionally delays the payment of temporary total disability. However, if the check has not been received in a reasonable period of time, your workers’ compensation attorney can file a motion with the Executive Secretary’s Office of the North Carolina Industrial Commission requesting a 10% late penalty be assessed against the employer. The Industrial Commission is obviously concerned if an employer or their insurance company is not paying workers’ compensation checks on a timely basis. As a result, contact your attorney if there is ongoing problem with receiving your temporary total disability checks.
Can I Collect Unemployment and Workers' Compensation Benefits at the Same Time?
You cannot receive unemployment and workers’ compensation payouts or benefits at the same time. The principal behind workers compensation is that you are getting reimbursed for the wages you are missing because you are injured. Therefore, you should not be receiving any unemployment payments because then you would be theoretically getting paid two wages at one time.
Trying to collect unemployment can also affect the credibility of your workers compensation case. In theory, you can claim workers compensation because you are unable to work because of a job related injury or illness. The idea is that while you would like to work but are physically unable to do so. The policy behind employment compensation on the other hand is that you are fully willing and ready to work, however you are unable to find a paying job. So if you collect unemployment while you have an outstanding workers compensation claim it is almost like telling one government agency that you are physically ready and willing to work, while simultaneously telling another government agency that you should be collecting money because you physically cannot work.
The only exception to this rule would be if your workers compensation claim has been denied, yet you are unable to work in your old job because of your injury so you were forced to resign. If you are applying for new jobs that would be considered light work, or less physically demanding than your old job, and you are still unable to find work, then you may collect unemployment while collecting workers compensation benefits. This however is not very common and collecting unemployment can potentially have a very detrimental effect on your workers compensation case. So as a general rule you may not and should not collect unemployment while also collecting workers compensation benefits.
How is the Household Size Determined for the Means Test?
The basic purpose of the Means Test is to determine whether a Debtor is eligible to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Along with other supporting requirements, the Means Test plays a major role in Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The Means Test also tells us whether a Debtor would need to pay back some of their debts in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy if they do not “pass.” Simply put, the Means Test determines the Debtor’s monthly income by taking the Debtor’s household’s gross income and subtracting qualified deductions. By doing this, we can decide whether the Debtor would need to be looking into filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
What Happens If I Owe Taxes While In A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy?
When you file for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, there may be a chance you could end up owing taxes over the three to five years that you are in the bankruptcy. If you do happen to owe taxes while in a chapter 13 bankruptcy, the IRS or State that you owe may file a proof of claim. This is a legal document that states how much you owe a creditor. Depending on the amount you owe, the bankruptcy Trustee may need to increase your payments. The amount that the payments would increase depends on how much you owe.
In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, taxes owed are paid back in full. Depending on what you end up owing, your payments could end up needing to be increased to ensure you pay back everything owed in taxes before your bankruptcy is closed. Your attorney and the Trustee will typically work this out and let you know what the payments will end up being.
To ensure the greatest chance of success in your Chapter 13 bankruptcy you should be sure you try to fix your deductions so you are breaking even each year. Ideally, you don’t want to get a large refund each year (the Trustee could take this if you do) and you don’t want to owe each year because that could cause your monthly payments to increase to an amount more than you can afford within your Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
So what’s the bottom line? Fix your deductions so you don’t continually owe more in taxes over the course of your bankruptcy. If you do owe, contact your attorney and they can work with the Chapter 13 Trustee and the taxing agency to try to ensure you can stay within your Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
Am I Personally Responsible for the Taxes Owed On My Business?
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses a basic logic that if you have any signing authority over the business bank account, then you can be held personally responsible for certain taxes owed by that business. So, yes, if you own a business or part of a business, be prepared to pay certain accrued taxes. This is especially true if you have a sole proprietorship. Additionally, no matter what type of business you own or owned, you also need to be careful when it comes to taxes that you should have paid as an employer – for example, the necessary taxes you pay to the government for your employees (social security, etc.). These can later be assessed as “civil penalties” which you are personally responsible for, even if the business later dissolves.
The general rule when it comes to taxes is that the government – state or federal – almost always gets paid.
What if you have dissolved the company? Unfortunately, dissolving a business will not eliminate any tax debt or liability. Even filing bankruptcy will not take care of all taxes. Generally speaking, the only time taxes may be wiped out in a bankruptcy is if they were filed three years prior to the bankruptcy filing date. The civil penalties mentioned above are also taxes that you can be personally responsible for even if the business has been dissolved.
If you owe a large amount to the government for taxes and are having a hard time coming to terms for a payment plan with the IRS, you may want to look into filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which is a structured repayment plan. This will keep the penalties from accruing and enlarging your original balance owed.
If your business is still operational, you may look into reorganizing your business debt in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The bottom line is that even though you can still be held personally responsible for certain business taxes, you are not limited to repaying your taxes outside of bankruptcy. Certain types of bankruptcy may actually be a better alternative for you when it comes to setting up a repayment plan.
