Legal Question in Tax Law in California

I inheirited my mom's house and used it as a rental. I ended up losing it in June 09 in foreclosure.

From June 09 up to last week I have tried calling the lender, emailing, and writing trying to get info for my tax return, to no avail.

I contacted IRS and told them I have my return ready to send with the exception of this pertinent info what do I do. I was told I could contact them (IRS) mid summer and get the info I need from them at that time but if I owe money I will also owe penalties.

Why should I be held liable for the lender's irresponsibility???? I was going to fill out the form for Insolvency so I'm lost and don't have a clue what to do. I hate to whine but this is totally unfair. Penalize the lender seems justified to me. Please help!


Asked on 4/06/10, 6:31 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Ken Koenen, LLM Law Office of Ken Koenen

First of all, it is possible that you have no tax obligation at all? When did you inherit the property, and did you have a loan in your name that you took out after you inherited? If you had no loan, then you have no tax obligation because the loan is not in your name. What was the value of the property compared to the loan? What was the value of the property when you converted it to a rental.

This is one of those cases where it would be beneficial to you to pay a few dollars to a tax professional today than have to pay thousands to a tax professional in a couple of years to clean up the mess. There are other exemptions to debt cancellation than just insolvency. Give me a call, and we can explore them.

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Answered on 4/12/10, 7:36 am


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