Florida Chapter 7 Means Test: Income Limits and Deductions

The Florida Chapter 7 means test compares your household’s income to the state median for your household size to decide whether you can file for a full debt discharge. For cases filed on or after November 1, 2025, a single filer earning $68,085 or less per year passes automatically with no presumption of abuse. If you earn more than the median for your household size, you aren’t disqualified, but you have to run a longer calculation that subtracts allowed expenses from your income and shows you don’t have enough left over to fund a Chapter 13 repayment plan.

Florida Median Income Thresholds

The U.S. Trustee Program publishes updated median income figures using Census Bureau data, usually about twice a year. For Florida cases filed on or after November 1, 2025, the thresholds are:

1-person household: $68,085
2-person household: $84,305
3-person household: $95,039
4-person household: $111,819
Each additional person: add $11,100

Check the Trustee’s table for the number in effect on your actual filing date, because the figures change.¹ If your household’s annualized current monthly income falls at or below the figure for your household size, there is no presumption of abuse. You complete Form 122A-1, skip the detailed deduction form, and your case moves forward without further means-test scrutiny.

How Your Income Is Measured

The means test does not use your current paycheck or your most recent tax year. It averages your gross income from all sources across the six full calendar months before your filing date, then multiplies by 12 to annualize it. File on March 15 and the lookback window covers September 1 through February 28.

The statutory definition of “current monthly income” is broad. It picks up wages, salary, business revenue, interest, dividends, pension payments, bonuses, overtime, seasonal pay, side income, and regular contributions to your household expenses from anyone living with you, even if that person isn’t filing.²

A few categories are specifically excluded:

Social Security retirement and disability benefits paid under the Social Security Act.²
Compensation, pensions, and allowances connected to a service-related disability or combat injury paid under federal military and veterans’ titles.
Payments to victims of terrorism or war crimes.

Because the window is rigid, timing matters. Someone who earned a high salary for five of the six months but was laid off a week before filing will still show a high average. Someone with a one-time bonus six months back and modest income otherwise will look wealthier than they are. Picking a filing date that moves high-earning months out of the lookback window is one of the more practical decisions in a Chapter 7 case, and it is worth working out before you commit.

Whatever your filing date, be ready to document the income figure with pay stubs covering the full six months for you and your spouse, bank statements showing deposits and interest, tax returns for the prior two years, and records of any household contributions from non-filing roommates or family. Gaps between the forms and the paperwork invite trustee review.

If You’re Above the Median: The Full Calculation

Exceeding the Florida median doesn’t end your Chapter 7 case. It moves you to Form 122A-2, where you subtract a set of allowed expenses from your current monthly income to arrive at projected disposable income over 60 months.³

IRS Standard Deductions

Many of the allowed deductions aren’t your actual costs. They’re fixed amounts set by the IRS. National Standards cover food, clothing, housekeeping, and personal care. The combined food and clothing allowance is $590 per month for a single filer and $1,531 for a household of four, and you claim the standard regardless of what you actually spend.⁴

Local Standards cover housing, utilities, and transportation and vary by county. The U.S. Trustee splits housing into insurance and operating expenses on one hand and mortgage or rent on the other. Look up the figures for your Florida county and household size on the Trustee’s chart.⁵ A filer in Miami-Dade gets a different housing allowance than one in Levy County.

Actual Expense Deductions

On top of the IRS standards, Form 122A-2 allows deductions for certain documented out-of-pocket costs: federal, state, and local taxes, mandatory payroll deductions, health insurance premiums, disability insurance, court-ordered payments such as child support, mandatory retirement contributions, and the cost of caring for elderly or chronically ill family members. Each deduction needs backup in the form of pay stubs, receipts, or account statements.

The 60-Month Disposable Income Test

After subtracting the deductions, multiply your remaining monthly disposable income by 60. That figure represents what you could theoretically pay unsecured creditors over a five-year Chapter 13 plan. The court compares it to two numbers:

25% of your total nonpriority unsecured debts, or $10,275, whichever is greater
$17,150

The presumption of abuse arises if your 60-month disposable income equals or exceeds the lesser of those two amounts.⁶ Example: with $50,000 in unsecured debt, 25% is $12,500, which is above $10,275, so $12,500 is the first number. The lesser of $12,500 and $17,150 is $12,500. If your 60-month disposable income reaches $12,500 (about $209 per month), the presumption kicks in. Below that line, you pass.

Special Circumstances That Can Rebut a Failed Test

If the math produces a presumption of abuse, you can rebut it by documenting special circumstances that make the standard calculation misleading. The statute names a serious medical condition and a call to active military duty as examples, but the category covers any unanticipated situation beyond your control that justifies lower income or higher expenses than the forms reflect.⁶ You have to itemize each adjustment and explain why no reasonable alternative exists.

Common categories include:

Private or public school tuition that is reasonable and necessary and not already covered by the IRS standards.
Actual housing and utility costs that exceed the Local Standard for your county, with documentation that the real figures are reasonable.
Costs tied to protecting yourself or your family from domestic violence, which the court keeps confidential.

A one-time, non-recurring expense is harder to justify than ongoing treatment for a chronic condition. The safety valve works, but only with real evidence.

Filers Who Skip the Means Test Entirely

Three categories of filers don’t have to run the calculation at all. They file Form 122A-1Supp with the petition to claim the exemption:⁷

Debtors whose debts are primarily business rather than consumer debts. You check the exemption box on Form 122A-1 and move on without the income comparison.
Disabled veterans whose debts were mostly incurred while on active duty or performing a homeland defense activity.
Reservists and National Guard members called to active duty or homeland defense for at least 90 days after September 11, 2001. The exemption applies during service and for 540 days after release.

The statute says the means test “shall not apply” to the qualifying veteran and reservist categories, so the court cannot dismiss or convert these cases based on the calculation.⁶

What Happens If You Fail

Failing the means test doesn’t close every door. It means the court presumes your Chapter 7 filing is abusive, and the U.S. Trustee may move to dismiss.

The usual next step is converting the case to Chapter 13 and proposing a three-to-five-year repayment plan tied to your disposable income. If you are eligible for Chapter 13, you have the right to request the conversion. For homeowners behind on mortgage payments, Chapter 13 is often the better fit anyway because it lets you catch up on arrears through the plan.⁸

The court can also simply dismiss the case, which puts you back where you started, sometimes with restrictions on refiling right away. A voluntary dismissal before conversion is occasionally strategic if you need time to shift the six-month lookback window or fix another eligibility issue before trying again. The outcome you want to avoid is filing without having done the math, because a dismissed case costs you the filing fee, the credit counseling fee, and any attorney costs, with no discharge at the end.

1
U.S. Trustee Program/Dept. of Justice. Census Bureau Median Family Income By Family Size
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 101 – Definitions
3
United States Courts. Official Form 122A-2 – Chapter 7 Means Test Calculation
4
U.S. Trustee Program/Dept. of Justice. IRS National Standards for Allowable Living Expenses
5
United States Department of Justice. Means Testing
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 707 – Dismissal of a Case or Conversion to a Case Under Chapter 11 or 13
7
United States Courts. Official Form 122A-1Supp – Statement of Exemption From Presumption of Abuse Under 707(b)(2)
8
United States Courts. Chapter 7 – Bankruptcy Basics