Impuned Income
What could you do when a judgment debtor seems to be employed at, or has ownership of part of some family or tiny business; and appears to live well, although does not get much of, or any conventional paycheck? In a community property state, would it be possible to also garnish any revenue being paid a judgment debtor's spouse, when they also work or get benefits from that business?
This article is my opinion and is not, legal advice. I am a judgment broker, and not an attorney. When you want legal advice or a strategy to use, you should retain an attorney.
Regular wage garnishments only can attach W2 reported wages coming from regular jobs. Common levies can't reach benefits, perks, payments for personal expenses, money under the table, or any other income or asset moving kind of tricks. If the judgment debtor's non-W2 revenue turns out to be revenue which is reported on some 1099 form, then a proposed assignment order to attach this revenue stream may work.
When the debtor's revenue source and/or perk is not reported on some W2 or a 1099 form, that income is probably imputed (rarely named impuned, and when the transfer of a benefit occurs, impugned) revenue, that may become taxable. Impugned income is non-1099 or W2 income, which may be uncertain or certain commissions, payments, bonuses, or benefits. The majority of impugned income has a cash value, that when found by the Internal Revenue Service, might become taxable.
An impugned income example could be a hotel worker who receives W2-based income of $45,500 per year, and also can stay 5 nights in the best room at the hotel for free. Those five nights are a type of impugned income. When employees drive around in cars that their company pays either the lease bill, insurance bill, or both, this is impugned income. Another example is some airline worker that can fly for free, on flights other than the flights they are working on.
Not every company reports impugned revenue, as that means the company would likely need to pay some taxes on the impugned revenue. Often an impugned benefit has very little or no cost to the employer. Certain impugned payments are considered a perk. Perk examples are donuts on Friday, coffee at work, or pizza when you have to work on a weekend. Such perks have no tax liability for employees, and are a full tax write-off for the employer. The Internal Revenue Service doesn't usually focus on perks which give employees free services or goods, as long as they're inexpensive.
When a judgment debtor's impugned benefits are free meals, free rent, free travel, free use of a vehicle, free gasoline, free internet, etc.; that might interest the Internal Revenue Service, but these types of impugned benefits aren't usually helpful to judgment owners. Even if impugned income is cash or checks provided to the judgment debtor, attaching this income (except by garnishing the judgment debtor's checking account) requires another lawsuit and court trial; and having your proposed ruling approved by the court.
Corporate expense accounts offer many impugned income opportunities. Higher-ranking employees often get a corporate credit card for required expenses. Impugned income occurs when the company pays for personal expenses of their worker (or with mischief, a certain non-employee).
Sometimes judgment debtors earn no revenue, however some company's credit card records might reveal the judgment debtor charging $7,000 per month, including a lot of withdrawals for "spending" cash. Maybe a creditor may one day persuade a judge to approve their assignment order asking for twenty five percent of the $7,000 a month impugned benefit.
A type of small-company funny business circumstance which may interest a judgment owner, would be if the judgment debtor works for some small or family business which provides the judgment debtor a company credit card to pay for their private expenses. By scheduling a judgment debtor examination, one can probably subpoena that third-party company, to obtain copies of your debtor's credit card statements.
It takes some work to discover the quantity of a business's assets or revenue goes into your debtor's pocket. It often takes two judgment debtor/third-party exam hearings that include document production requests. The beginning examination is to get a copy of that company's credit card statements.
For your 2nd level of exams, one might retain a court reporter. At the examination hearing, ask the business person and the debtor about the payments made to the judgment debtor with their corporate credit card. Their recorded answers can later become used on a transcript, which describes the credit card payments and the computation of impugned revenue.
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