Kevin Legal Advice

Parents of special needs students in the Atlanta Schools rejoiced this past week when Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed into law the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship bill. Formerly known as Senate Bill 10, the proposed voucher plan has been watched closely by parents and educators in Atlanta Schools.
The law will use state funds to offer vouchers to parents of children with special needs in order to provide them with more appropriate school options. Atlanta Schools’ teacher, and parent of a child with autism, Linda Bryant Butler expressed her pleasure in a recent article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “…parents like me are ecstatic that we will now have a choice. If one school doesn’t work for Xavier during his 12-year academic career, I know he won’t be trapped. He will have the choice to seek a better education elsewhere,” she said.
Parents in Atlanta Schools and throughout the state will have the option of using vouchers to attend a different public school or a private school. In order for a child to be eligible, he or she must have a documented developmental disability (such as Autism or Tourette’s Syndrome) and have attended public school for at least one year. Estimates are that the program will provide $4,000 worth of vouchers in the first year, and that amount will increase to about $15,000 a year. Atlanta Schools’ educators are expressing some mixed feelings over the vouchers.
Proponents say that this is the only way Atlanta Schools can truly meet the needs of these exceptional learners. It simply isn’t possible to have a specialist for every disability at every school. They also point out that Atlanta Schools’ teachers already struggle to meet the needs of students without developmental delays.
Opponents express concern over both the standards of private schools, and the removal of funds from the public school sectors. Atlanta Schools receives government funding on a per pupil basis, and the loss of an additional $9,000 (the estimated average voucher payout) per student could weaken the abilities of the public schools.
Governor Perdue has stated that this law will give parents more control over their children’s education, and that they “understand the needs of their child in the way only a parent can.”
Atlanta Schools have debated voucher programs, along with the rest of the nation, for years. But if the program is successful, Atlanta Schools may find itself copied around the country.
Not all Atlanta Schools’ parents with special needs children will opt for the program. If a child is successful at his current Atlanta School, no changes will be made. But if parents are interested in applying for the scholarship program they should visit the Georgia Department of Education website at http://www.doe.k12.ga.us and click on the link for the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship.

Under pressure from retailers and other companies claiming losses from increased bankruptcy filings, congress took steps a few years ago to make it more difficult for individuals to file for bankruptcy. Initially, bankruptcy laws were designed to help people, whose financial debt got out of control and were meant to be a method of giving them a new start.
However, over the years many were taking advantage of the bankruptcy laws to continually file bankruptcy as often as allowed by law to get out of paying their financial obligations. This overuse of the system led to more stringent rules to protect creditors often the loser in cases with people who worked the system to their advantage. New laws were designed to prevent those from simply getting out of their obligations.
For those who fall into out-of-control debt, the bankruptcy laws exist to help them make a fresh start. Providing the need for financial and debt management as part of the bankruptcy process will provide the needed help while sifting out those individuals who use the bankruptcy laws to simply create debt and have it wiped out by the court periodically.
In most instances the laws still allow for discharging all legally dischargeable debt for those whose only way out is through bankruptcy. However, it also makes it tougher to meet the demands of the new laws. This may prevent some people from filing for bankruptcy, either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 from seeking the help offered through bankruptcy, only making their financial life more miserable.
In 2005, the U.S. government seemed to agree with lobbyists for credit companies and determined that too many debtors were allowed to get out from under their self-created debt by filing for bankruptcy. Many were pointing to a few cases in which people with the means to make good on their obligations were simply filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and leaving the creditor holding the balance.
The new law, which was supposed to provide additional help to consumers in handling their credit load, also added many requirements, including the need to go through credit counseling services before filing bankruptcy. The counseling is also to provide alternatives to bankruptcy, attempting to move more people from Chapter 7 bankruptcy into a plan that will provide the creditors receiving payments through Chapter 13 filings.
The new bankruptcy laws added extra burdens for the debtor as well as the attorneys, which not only increased the amount of information collected for bankruptcy filings, but also included many new financial requirements that are beginning to resemble the current income tax code. In order to understand the new rules and regulations as well as the reporting requirements, many attorneys will need to specialize in bankruptcy.
There are also penalties in the new law for both attorneys and clients who willfully attempt to use inaccurate information in a bankruptcy petition. If a violation is found by the court, the attorney fees and client costs can be claimed by the court trustee, giving the trustees more incentive to more carefully review all filings in the court.

Everybody loves to earn more money, but few really know how to keep most of it! With some good information, there are ways to legally reduce your tax burden within the system. I’m not telling you to cheat on your taxes – don’t ever do that. It could land you in jail. But why pay 40-60% taxes if you can get away with maybe 5%? I know that this doesn’t sound possible, when federal taxes are around 30%, state taxes are around 10%, and Social Security is 15% (7.5% if you’re employed by someone else). But it really is, and it is your constitutional right to minimize your tax burden, within the law.
Right now, you’re paying into a system which you know will become defunct at some point of time. In fact, it may not be around when you most need it. So don’t depend on the government or social security to protect you, plan your own retirement and saving.
How do you do this? First of all, your business should be some type of corporation. This allows you to protect your business and assets. Next, you should start with writing off as many deductions as you are allowed to. This includes but is not limited to: Travel Expenses, Advertising and internet expenses including domain registration, designing and hosting, office furniture, events and seminars, educational books and tapes, coaching programs, health care, and much more. You then pay tax only on the balance income. For example, your income is $200,000. Your deductions total to $120,000. So your taxable income is only $80,000. Some folks will pay tax on the whole $200,000 without claiming deductions!
Some tax saving examples:
I have observed that Sections 105 and 106 of the tax code actually permit you to write off your entire health care (as of writing this), and not just your deductibles and co-pays. This means that you can claim your dental expenses, contact lens / glasses, etc, which most accountants will not favor. And you can’t even blame them – they specialize in “tax returns” and not “tax savings”.
Section 274 allows deductions for office equipment and supplies and even lunch and dinner expenses. So if you’re discussing business over lunch, you can claim deductions for it. But if you’re just having dinner with your family or friends, you cannot. So be careful for what you claim! In fact, section 119 allows you to write off 100% food and lodging expenses when you’re traveling for consultation, seminars, etc. Don’t stop at these two, claim deductions for your flight tickets also (section 162 allows this). If you wish to give additional health advantages to your employees, you can also have a gym and claim deductions for the entire equipment. However, gym memberships are not deductible, so be very careful and get the facts clear before you claim stuff left right and center!
The law also requires you to update your corporate documents each year. So you can combine your annual meeting with a vacation and make the entire trip deductible! You an even take your family with you and throw those expenses in. You can also three separate achievement awards per annum, up to $1600 in kind (cash not allowed). This can be a plasma TV, a refrigerator, anything but cash. You can even gift yourself!
Child care: Section 129 allows deductions of $5250 per child, per annum. It also allows claims for aged parents who need medical help. You can also create a scholarship fund for your kids and pay for their dance and karate classes, sports coaching, and other programs. This is covered in detail under section 127.
The Corporation Advantage: While you can still use most of the tax saving strategies without making a corporation, it does not give enough protection to your business and assets. An s-corporation allows 75 types of deductions, while a c-corporation allows as much as 300. A c-corp also has a lower tax rate.
Braving the audit: When you claim a lot of deductions, it’s quite possible that the IRS may want to audit your books. Don’t be afraid of them; they can’t touch you if you keep all your records clean and up-to-date. I would advice you to maintain a tax log with your receipts and keep everything organized. This way, you won’t have to search through piles of papers and receipts every time the IRS needs something.
Asset and business security: While s-corp and c-corp are great for tax savings, they don’t really protect your assets. A proprietorship is not secure at all. One lawsuit can take away everything from you, including your business, profits, assets, house, office, etc. A partnership is even more riskier – you can be sued for mistakes made by your partners even if there’s no involvement from you! So if you seriously want to protect your assets and business, I would suggest you to go for a limited liability corporation, like an LLC. It protects you from attorneys wanting to attack your business or assets.