Consumers with poor credit that depend on tips for much of their income need to be particularly careful that they report it otherwise they may find themselves unable qualify for a bad credit auto loan
Tip income
We have been in the bad credit car loan business long enough here at Auto Net Financial to realize that one of the most difficult approvals to obtain from a bad credit lender is for individuals with poor credit who are waiters, waitresses, or in any other occupation that depends on tips for much of their earnings.
Due to the nature of the business and the lax rules for reporting tips, this income isn’t always reported on tax returns. In truth, this practice might save you money in the short term, but it could prevent you from getting a loan, especially if your FICO score falls below 640.
So if you are one of these individuals, before you fill out our online bad credit car loan application to finance either a new or a newer pre-owned vehicle with a second chance car loan, you need to make sure that you are reporting all of your income to the IRS. Because if you don’t declare all or most of this income when you file your taxes, your only choice for a car may be a tote the note dealer – which could mean settling for an older car, higher interest rates and a greater chance at repossession.
Including tips in your income
Many wait staff employees report only a portion of their tip income on their tax returns. This practice has been going on for years and for many waiters and waitresses it is a way to avoid paying income tax on a fairly large portion of their income.
The IRS, however, is very clear when it comes to the reporting of tip income. If you receive tips, here is what you have to do:
1. Keep a daily record of tips.
2. Report these tips to your employer.
3. Report all tips on your income tax return.
This means that if you receive a tip, it needs to be reported as income. Tips that are received using a credit card are usually added to your yearly W-2 (wage and tax statement) by your employer. Tips that you receive in cash are harder to track and it is the waitperson’s responsibility to report this income to their employer.
In case you were wondering, the IRS has created a form that can be filled out on a daily basis to keep track of tips. In addition to keeping these records, employees are also required to not only report this amount, but to pay taxes out of these funds to the employer. Many waiters and waitresses ignore this and think that they are saving money on taxes by failing to report this income. While this may decrease the amount of income tax that they pay, it can make it very difficult to buy a car – especially with a bad credit car loan.
Proving your income
While traditional lenders usually don’t require proof of income, this isn’t the case with bad credit car loan banks and lenders. If your total income is not listed on a W-2 or on a professionally prepared tax return, it might as well not be there. Even if you have bank records to support this additional income with daily or weekly deposits, if it isn’t listed on your tax return, in the eyes of the lender you don’t have actual proof of this income.
Income and debt to income requirements
Most bad credit lenders have minimum monthly income requirements. These lenders use your “stated” income which appears on your W-2 or your income tax form to compute a debt-to-income ratio. This is used in order to come up with a budget for a car payment. This computation can affect individuals with tip income in two ways:
1. Most of these bad credit lenders have minimum monthly income requirements that can range from $1,500 to $1,800. If you are a waitperson and your base wage is $3.00 per hour, this computes out to $516 gross income per month (based on a 40 hour work week). Even if the employer reports credit card tips of $175 per week (based on credit card sales), this still only adds an additional $753 per month to your total income. Using this example, the total reported gross monthly income would be $1269. So in terms of a required stated income for a bad credit lender, the gross monthly income is too low and this individual would not qualify for a loan.
2. Even if the reported income meets the lender requirements, there is always the possibility that monthly expenses could be out of proportion to the stated income. As an example, let’s say there is reported income of $2,000 per month that includes a base hourly wage plus reported tips. For the purposes of argument, let’s say that this individual’s actual monthly income is really $3,500. In this example, there could also be reasonable monthly expenses of $1800. So, even though the actual debt to income ratio would normally be acceptable to a subprime lender, the difference between the reported income and actual expenses would throw the debt-to-income ratio way out of whack and, once again, this person would not qualify for a bad credit auto loan.
The bottom line
If you are someone who receives a significant amount of your income from tips, you should report this income to your employer. This situation is even more critical if you need to purchase a car with a bad credit car loan. If your income is either not reported on a W-2, or you don’t show all of it on your income tax form, the lenders that originate bad credit car loans will not allow you to count it as income for lending purposes.
For more information on tip income, visit the tip income portion of the IRS website at: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p531.pdf
For more information on bad credit auto loans and before you buy a car from a local Tote the Note, We Finance Everyone car dealer, consider applying for a bad credit auto loan from Auto Net Financial, a leading national car buying service for people with bad credit. Our credit application is encrypted so your personal information is secure, and you can fill it out in the comfort and security of your home.
So why not begin the process of rebuilding your credit by filling out our online bad credit car loan application.
