From the Editor – Discharge and Dischargeability • NACTT Academy

From the Editor – Discharge and Dischargeability

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired)

Late-filed state income tax returns qualified as “returns” for discharge. Interpreting BAPCA’s hanging paragraph definition of “return,” § 523(a)(1)(B) excludes from discharge those tax liabilities for which a return was never filed, but this debtor filed returns, albeit late, and there was no contention that the state prepared returns for the taxpayer. Under Massachusetts state law, a “return” was defined as a “taxpayer’s signed declaration of the tax due, if any, properly completed by the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s representative on a form . . .

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