The Schedule I bankruptcy form (Official Form 106I) is where you report every source of monthly income coming into your household when you file an individual bankruptcy case. You fill it out by listing your employer and gross wages, breaking out each payroll deduction to reach your take-home pay, adding any other income such as business earnings, benefits, or support payments, and disclosing anything you expect to change in the next 12 months. The court, the trustee, and (in a Chapter 13) your repayment plan all lean on the numbers you put here, so the form rewards care.
Who Fills Out Schedule I
Every individual debtor files Schedule I, whether the case is Chapter 7 or Chapter 13.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 1007 – Lists, Schedules, Statements, and Other Documents It travels with Schedule J (your expenses); together the two forms show what, if anything, you have left each month after your bills.
If you’re married and filing alone, one rule controls whether your spouse’s income appears on the form: do you live together? If your non-filing spouse shares your household, include their income even though they aren’t in the bankruptcy. If you are separated and living in different households, leave it off.2United States Courts. Instructions for Schedule I – Your Income Emotional estrangement under the same roof doesn’t qualify.
What to Gather Before You Start
Pull your financial records first. Federal law requires you to provide copies of every pay stub or other proof of payment received from any employer within the 60 days before you file.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 521 – Debtors Duties These go to your bankruptcy trustee and act as backup for the Schedule I numbers.
You’ll also want:
- Recent tax returns and W-2s or 1099s, especially if your income fluctuates or you’re self-employed.
- Benefit statements for Social Security, unemployment, disability, or veterans’ payments.
- Business or rental records showing gross receipts and operating expenses, so you can report a net figure.
- Pension, annuity, or retirement distribution statements.
If you don’t have pay stubs for the full 60-day window, plan to give the trustee a written explanation and alternative proof, such as bank statements showing employer deposits.
Filling In Your Employment Income
The top of the form asks for your employer’s name and address, how long you’ve worked there, and your occupation. A second job goes on an attached page with the same information.
Then you report gross monthly wages, salary, and commissions before any deductions. This is the top-of-the-stub number, not your take-home. Overtime pay has its own line so the court can see how much of your income depends on hours that aren’t guaranteed.
Payroll Deductions, Line by Line
Schedule I walks through each deduction category separately. Rushing this section is a common mistake, because the breakdown is what produces an accurate take-home figure:
- Taxes, Medicare, and Social Security withholding, combined.
- Mandatory retirement contributions your employer requires.
- Voluntary retirement contributions, such as 401(k) deferrals. A trustee may question whether voluntary saving should continue while creditors go unpaid.
- Retirement fund loan repayments, if you’ve borrowed from your 401(k) or similar plan.
- Insurance premiums (health, dental, life, or other) taken from your paycheck.
- Domestic support obligations withheld from wages, such as child support or alimony.
- Union dues.
- Anything else deducted that doesn’t fit above.
Add the deductions, subtract them from gross pay, and you have monthly take-home pay from employment. That figure flows into the total at the bottom of the form.
Other Income Sources
Below employment, Schedule I collects everything else. Business, professional, or rental income is reported net, after ordinary and necessary operating expenses, with a separate statement attached for each business or property showing gross receipts, expenses, and the resulting monthly net.
The remaining lines capture interest and dividends, family support received (alimony or child support paid to you), Social Security or other government assistance, pension and retirement income, and any other regular contributions to your household. A non-filing spouse who lives with you has a separate column on the same form for their amounts. Every regular dollar coming into the household belongs somewhere on Schedule I.
Converting Pay to a Monthly Amount
All figures on Schedule I are monthly, so pay on any other schedule has to be converted. The standard method is annual total divided by 12. Biweekly pay: multiply by 26, divide by 12. Weekly pay: multiply by 52, divide by 12.
Irregular or seasonal income takes more judgment. Use tax returns and recent pay records to arrive at a realistic annual figure, then divide by 12. The goal is an honest average, not the number from your best or worst month. If your current rate has shifted and you expect it to hold, report the current actual rate rather than a backward-looking average.
Anticipated Income Changes
Federal law requires you to disclose any increase in income or expenses you reasonably expect in the 12 months after filing.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 521 – Debtors Duties Schedule I has a section asking whether your income will change and, if so, why. A pending raise, an expiring contract, seasonal layoffs, benefits about to start or stop, or a spouse returning to work all belong here.
Don’t skim past it. In a Chapter 13 case, a post-filing raise can prompt the trustee to seek updated schedules, higher plan payments, or turnover of bonuses. Disclosing what you already see coming reads far better than a trustee finding an undisclosed raise on your next tax return.
Schedule I Is Not the Means Test
One of the most common paperwork mix-ups is treating Schedule I and the means test (Official Forms 122A for Chapter 7 or 122C for Chapter 13) as the same calculation. They aren’t. Schedule I is a snapshot of what you actually earn right now. The means test defines “current monthly income” as the average of what you received during the six full calendar months before your filing date.4United States Department of Justice. Means Testing If you lost your job two months ago, the means test figure will be higher than Schedule I because it still picks up months when you were employed. If you just started earning more, it will be lower. Both forms are required, and the court expects the numbers to differ when your circumstances have changed.
Cross-Checks and Amending Later
Before you file, make sure the Schedule I monthly total matches what appears on the Summary of Your Assets and Liabilities (Official Form 106), which pulls the figure straight from this form.5United States Courts. A Summary of Your Assets and Liabilities and Certain Statistical Information Any mismatch is visible immediately to the court and trustee. Reconcile the total against your pay stubs and the 60-day payment records you’re handing to the trustee.
The current version of the form is available on the U.S. Courts website at uscourts.gov.6United States Courts. Schedule I – Your Income If your income shifts materially after filing, you can amend Schedule I or file a supplemental schedule to update the court.
What Inaccurate Reporting Costs
You sign your petition under penalty of perjury. Knowingly filing false income information, or hiding a source the court needs to see, has real consequences. The civil side: the court can dismiss your case, leaving you with no debt relief, and in some circumstances bar the debts you tried to discharge from being discharged in a future filing.
The criminal side: bankruptcy fraud carries up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 152 – Concealment of Assets; False Oaths and Claims; Bribery8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine Prosecutors don’t chase every error, but intentionally understating income or leaving off a revenue source is exactly what those statutes target. Honest mistakes can generally be fixed by amending your schedules; deliberate omissions are a different problem.