How to Complete the Bankruptcy Household Worksheet and Means Test

The bankruptcy household worksheet is where you tell the court who lives with you and what everyone earns, and those two figures feed straight into Form 122A-1, the Chapter 7 means test statement. Get either one wrong and the U.S. Trustee can challenge your case or move to dismiss it. The stakes sit almost entirely in two places: how you count people, and how you report the last six months of income.

Who Counts as a Household Member

Congress never defined “household” in the Bankruptcy Code, and courts have filled the gap in at least three different ways. The definition your district follows can change your household size, which changes the median income you’re measured against, which can decide the entire case.

The heads-on-beds or Census approach counts every person living under your roof, related or not, financially contributing or not. A roommate splitting rent, an elderly parent, an adult child in the spare room — all in.
The tax-dependent approach counts only your spouse and anyone you can claim as a dependent on your federal tax return.
The economic-unit approach counts people who function as a single financial unit with you, meaning they either support you or depend on your support in a financially interdependent way.

Some courts add a fractional method for shared-custody children, counting a child as a partial member based on the share of the year they live with you. Before you write a number on the worksheet, check your local bankruptcy court’s rules or ask an attorney who practices in that district. The count is the piece the trustee is most likely to test.

What to Gather Before You Start

Pulling documents mid-form is how mistakes get made. Have everything in front of you first.

Identification for every household member: full legal name, date of birth, and Social Security number. Only the last four digits appear on public filings under Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9037, but you need the full numbers to complete the underlying forms.¹
Six months of income records: pay stubs, benefit statements, pension disbursements, and any other proof of money received during the six full calendar months before the filing date. Form 122A-1 asks for exactly that window.²
Your most recent federal tax return, W-2s, and any 1099 forms, which let the trustee cross-check the worksheet.
Proof of residency: a current lease, mortgage statement, or recent utility bill.
Income records for a non-filing spouse who lives with you. Their earnings go on Form 122A-1, and you may be able to reduce the impact with a marital adjustment on Form 122A-2.
Your credit counseling certificate from an approved provider, which individual debtors must complete before filing.

Reporting Income on Form 122A-1

Form 122A-1 captures every dollar that came into the household during the six full calendar months before filing, then averages it to a monthly figure. The form uses separate lines for gross wages, salary, tips, bonuses, overtime, commissions, business income, rental income, pension and retirement payments, unemployment compensation, and other sources.²

Enter gross amounts, not take-home pay. This is where filers most often slip. The number on your paycheck after taxes and health insurance is not what the form wants. Irregular income belongs in the total too: seasonal work, a one-time bonus, side income received in the window — add it all, divide by six.

If your spouse lives with you but is not filing, put their income on Form 122A-1 as well. You can then claim a marital adjustment on Form 122A-2 to back out the portion of that income spent on the non-filing spouse’s personal expenses that don’t benefit the household. Keep expense records for that adjustment separate from the income entries.

Comparing Your Income to the State Median

Once you have a current monthly income figure, compare it to the median family income for your state at your household size. The U.S. Department of Justice publishes updated median income tables. For cases filed between November 2025 and March 2026, the median for a four-person household ranges from roughly $91,000 in West Virginia to over $173,000 in Massachusetts.³

If your income is below the median for your state and household size, you pass the means test without further calculation. If it’s at or above the median, you move on to Form 122A-2.

Completing Form 122A-2 If Your Income Is Above the Median

Form 122A-2 subtracts allowable expenses from your monthly income to reach monthly disposable income. Most of these expenses are not your actual spending. They come from standardized tables.

The IRS National Standards set fixed monthly allowances for food, clothing, housekeeping supplies, and personal care. A one-person household gets $839 per month. A four-person household gets $2,129. Each additional person beyond four adds $394.⁴ You claim these amounts regardless of what you actually spent, and no receipts are required. The IRS Local Standards for housing and transportation vary by county, so those numbers depend on where you live.

Beyond the standardized figures, Form 122A-2 allows deductions for health insurance premiums, disability insurance, continued care of elderly or disabled household members, and up to $1,500 per year per child for private or public school tuition.⁵ An additional 5 percent allowance above the food-and-clothing standard is also available; for a four-person household, that adds $77 per month.⁴

After subtracting allowable expenses, the form multiplies remaining monthly disposable income by 60, representing five years of hypothetical payments. That 60-month figure decides the outcome:

Below $10,275: no presumption of abuse, and you qualify for Chapter 7.
Above $17,150: presumption of abuse applies.
Between $10,275 and $17,150: the form compares your disposable income to 25 percent of your nonpriority unsecured debt. If disposable income is less, no presumption; if equal or greater, the presumption applies.

These thresholds were adjusted on April 1, 2025, and hold until April 1, 2028.⁶

If the Presumption of Abuse Applies

A presumption of abuse doesn’t automatically end the case, but it opens the door for the U.S. Trustee or the court to move to dismiss your Chapter 7 or convert it to Chapter 13.⁵

You can try to rebut it by showing “special circumstances,” such as a serious medical condition or a call to active military duty producing expenses the IRS standards don’t capture. The burden is on you. Expect to provide an itemized explanation, documentation of the amount, and a statement that no reasonable alternative exists. General claims about high cost of living won’t get there.

Filers who can’t rebut the presumption often shift to Chapter 13, which reorganizes debts into a three-to-five-year repayment plan rather than liquidating them. That is a different process with its own forms and its own payment obligations.

Redacting Personal Information Before You File

Bankruptcy filings are public records. Creditors, employers, and anyone else with access to PACER can view what you submit. Rule 9037 requires filings to show only the last four digits of Social Security numbers, taxpayer identification numbers, and financial account numbers.¹ The clerk will not catch mistakes for you. Filing an unredacted document is treated as a waiver of the protection for your own information, so check every page.

If the court needs your complete account numbers, you can file an unredacted version under seal alongside the redacted public copy, or submit a sealed reference list linking each redacted identifier to its full number.

After You File

The court-appointed trustee reviews your petition and schedules the meeting of creditors, commonly called the 341 meeting. You attend in person or by phone depending on the district, take an oath, and answer questions from the trustee and any creditors who appear. The trustee’s job is to confirm that your household worksheet and schedules match your actual financial picture. Bring a government-issued photo ID and proof of your Social Security number.⁷

If your reported household size doesn’t line up with your tax returns, or your income doesn’t match your bank deposits, expect a request for documentation or a follow-up hearing. Providing false information on bankruptcy forms is a federal crime and can result in denial of your discharge, dismissal of the case, or prosecution for bankruptcy fraud.

If nothing derails the case, a Chapter 7 discharge typically arrives about four months after the petition date. The discharge eliminates most unsecured debts such as credit cards, medical bills, and personal loans. It does not eliminate student loans, most tax debts, child support, or alimony.⁸

1
Legal Information Institute. Rule 9037. Protecting Privacy for Filings
2
United States Courts. Official Form 122A-1 Chapter 7 Statement of Your Current Monthly Income
3
United States Department of Justice. November 1, 2025 Median Income Table
4
United States Department of Justice. IRS National Standards for Allowable Living Expenses
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 707 – Dismissal of a Case or Conversion to a Case Under Chapter 11 or 13
6
United States Courts. Chapter 7 Means Test Calculation
7
United States Courts. Chapter 7 – Bankruptcy Basics
8
United States Courts. Discharge in Bankruptcy – Bankruptcy Basics