As if the means test wasn’t illogical and opaque enough, consider the unwritten provision for old cars. Where do you find the unwritten allowance? It’s not in the Bankruptcy Code but in the Internal Revenue Manual at 5.8.20.3. The IRS allows a delinquent taxpayer with a paid for car more than 6 years old or…
Bankruptcy courts have embraced an unwritten deduction for older cars for purposes of the means test. You won’t find this deduction in the official forms and I’ve had a hard time finding the text in the on- line Internal Revenue Manual, but the cases repeatedly cite Internal Revenue Manual 5.8.5.5.2 as authority for allowing debtors…