“Because Massachusetts law provides a definition of a ‘return’, we limit our examination to whether the debtor’s state tax returns that were filed after the deadline but more than two months prior to his bankruptcy filing, qualify as ‘returns’ within the Bankruptcy Code’s definition of ‘return’ set forth in Section 523…”, the court said. Massachusetts law defines “return’ 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 prescribed by the Commissioner and duly filed with the Commissioner.” The law does not set a deadline for filing returns. Instead, the court said the law is concerned with what the taxpayer filed, not when it was filed. “Nowhere in the Massachusetts regulatory or statutory law, is it specified that a return will be deemed something other than a return in the event of its untimely filing. Thus, we discern no timeliness requirement encompassed in the applicable non-bankruptcy law which governs the specific situation confronting us, namely the case of late-filed-but pre-assessment – state income tax return. We need not delve into questions regarding the consequence of filing either a state or federal income tax return post- assessment, as that issue is not before us. Moreover, the MDOR did not conduct an assessment of the debtor’s tax liabilities prior to the filing of his belated returns.”

Concluding that the debtor’s late filed returns qualified as returns for purposes of determining the discharge of taxes, the court rejected a per se rule that any return that is filed late is not a “return” under Section 523(a).

Jesus is our risen and living Savior!”One Seraphim cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” Isaiah 6:3.

Lawrence Bautista Yang is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and has been in law practice for thirty years. He specializes in bankruptcy, business and civil litigation and has handled more than five thousand successful bankruptcy cases in California. He speaks Mandarin and Fujien and looks forward to discussing your case with you personally. Call (626) 284-1142