8.4.3 Chapter 13 Considerations

A Chapter 13 bankruptcy may secure a more favorable repayment plan for taxes than an installment agreement. The maximum repayment period for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is 5 years. 

If the taxpayer has less than 5 years to repay federal tax liability, Chapter 13 can extend the payment period, resulting in lower monthly payments.

The Chapter 13 plan must provide for priority and secured tax debts. Older taxes may be “non-priority” and therefore dischargeable. In some cases, you can also prevent a tax debt from becoming “secured” by filing the bankruptcy before the IRS files its lien.

Before 2005, some tax liability that was non-dischargeable in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy because it failed to satisfy one or more of the six tests discussed in the previous section could be discharged in a Chapter 13 filing as long as the liability was listed. This was true even if the liability was not entirely paid in the 5-year payment period. This was commonly known as a “super” discharge. For the most part, the 2005 bankruptcy legislation eliminated the Chapter 13 “super” discharge. Although the scope of dischargeable debts in Chapter 13 has been narrowed, Chapter 13 can still be used to discharge priority taxes paid with money from loans and credit cards, tax penalties, and post-petition interest on certain taxes.