Baltimoresun.com's tax-advice column features three experts from the Hunt Valley accounting firm SC&H Group answering questions about preparing your return every Monday until April 17. To be included in the following weeks, please use the form at the right side of this page to submit your questions.

Barbara Smith, Baltimore: I worked for a company that filed for bankruptcy. When they filed, they owed me 20 days of vacation. I filed as a creditor on the bankruptcy. I have been notified by the court that the 10 years is up and the company never came out of bankruptcy. Can I claim this as a loss, as the debt will never be paid?

SC&H Group: Individual taxpayers file on the cash basis method of accounting. Since you did not include any of the accrued vacation in your income in previous years, you do not get a bad debt or other deduction for the lost income.

A lender's recipe for downfall

The home loan program was dubbed South Street.

It turned the idea of credit risk on its head. Consumers just exiting bankruptcy could get a mortgage with few questions. They could have some of the lowest possible credit scores. And they didn't have to submit any pay stubs or tax returns.

Subprime mortgage lender Fieldstone Investment Corp. of Columbia created the loan program during the real-estate gold rush in 2004 as competitors flooded the market.

Bears take control of MF-managed assets

MUMBAI: Assets under management (AUM) of domestic mutual funds dipped to Rs 5.22 lakh crore on December 31, 2007, compared to Rs 5.37 lakh crore on November 30, 2007. However, the figure is a healthy 61% higher than what it was on December 31, 2006.

While the break up of the latest AUM figures is not available, debt assets during the calendar year till November 30 have grown 77% year-on-year, compared to a 51% rise in equity assets.

Interestingly, over the last two months, the total AUM has been falling, having touched a peak of Rs 5,56,730 crore on October 31, 2007.

However, mutual fund distributors may have little to complain. On November 30, 2007, equity assets accounted for 37% (Rs 2 lakh crore) of the total assets under management, having grown roughly Rs 67,000 crore over one year.

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The owner of a large Milwaukee condominium project, facing major construction cost overruns and mounting debts, has filed for receivership - effectively ending its control of the development.

First Place Milwaukee LLC took that action Thursday with a filing in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. A state receivership action requires the court appointment of an outsider to run a company for the benefit of its creditors, a move somewhat similar to bankruptcy.

According to the filing, First Place owes nearly $59 million to a group of lenders and investors that helped finance the development of 115 condominiums at 106 W. Seeboth St., overlooking the confluence of the Milwaukee and Menomonee rivers. The 12-story project, known as First Place on the River, includes a riverwalk and other publicly funded improvements totaling $6.7 million.

MCG Capital Invests in Gould & Lamb

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MCG Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: MCGC) today announced a second lien debt and preferred equity investment to support the acquisition of Gould & Lamb, LLC by ABRY Partners LLC.

Gould & Lamb is a medical-financial services company that is unique to the workers' compensation industry. The company has been successfully producing Medicare Set-Asides (MSAs) for the workers' compensation industry since 2001. Having completed in excess of 40,000 MSAs, Gould & Lamb is the nation's largest, most experienced MSA specialist. Gould & Lamb is currently the vendor of choice for 20 of the top 25 national carriers and is the preferred or exclusive MSA provider for a number of TPAs, self-insured entities, defense attorneys, plaintiff attorneys and structured settlement brokers.