Small Business: Legal
If you own your own company, you can skip a salary in favor of distributions, but the IRS still wants its share of the money you take home.
Erin, Kailua-Kona
Do shareholders have to take a salary in an S corp? Can they just take distributions? How about an LLC?
A dry cleaner considers turning customers' absentmindedness into a tidy tax break.
Taylor, Jackson, Miss.
I own a dry cleaning business and was wondering what to do with all the forgotten or left-behind clothes. They date back a few months or as far back as a year. I read that by donating them I could get a tax write-off.
Handling the client that wants the goods but doesn't want to cough up a check.
Susan Lewis, Lancaster, Calif.
Can we legally hold a client's paperwork if they haven't paid their bill? We do their bookkeeping and they haven't paid in months. We haven't done any additional work for about two months, and now they are asking for their paperwork back. If we send it to them, we will never get paid.
Business owners can write off many of their health care costs, but complying with IRS rules requires some planning.
Jonathan Cottor, Scottsdale, Ariz.
I have an LLC, and I’m seeking some advice about my family’s medical expenses. One accountant told me they can be run through the LLC as a business expense, and I’ve been paying the insurance premiums and any eligible co-pays and FSA-qualifying-type out-of-pocket costs through the business as an expense. I haven’t set up a separate HSA account, since the medical expenses run through the business and reduce my taxable income anyway when it pulls over to my personal return.
Another accountant has questioned this logic, and advised me that medical expenses need to reside solely on my personal return and are not business expenses. Who’s right? Read more…
Selling sweet treats can be a fast way to make extra cash, but the road to doing it legally is paved with bureaucracy.
Ana, Dartmouth, Mass.
I'm thinking about making some truffles (chocolate and peanut butter), putting a flyer together, passing it to friends at work and selling to them. I'm making them at home. Do I need to get a business license or a food license?
Read more…
If the problem of too many owners is killing the business, it's time to restructure.
Kelli, Bishop, Calif.
How hard is it to split a family business? A mother and three siblings each own 20% of the business but the siblings don’t get along at all.
Have a hot idea for an educational software product? Here's how successful entrepreneurs have cracked the market.
Ernest L. Leisner, Buffalo
I have created a word game that I would like to transform into an educational video game. I believe it can go a long way to help improve the dismal illiteracy rate in our schools. I have many aspects of a proposal in place and I’d like to find a government grant to help. I have tried searching the Internet, but there are scams all over the place.
Experts reveal the best ways to keep company information in the building when the employees exit.
Tom Goll, Owner, U.S. Diversified Tech, Nashua, N.H.
We always hear about what employees should do to prepare for layoffs. But what should employers do to ensure that company data, contacts and customer lists don't walk out the door with terminated employees?
Registering your company's name as a trademark isn't legally required, but it can pay off down the road.
Nick, Seattle
I am starting a clothing company and need to copyright the brand name. What is the best way to do this on a tight budget?
If you're out of business and out of work, you may have to fight for the benefits you're due.
Anonymous
My husband and I own a small business in South Carolina. Since the bottom fell out of the market, our business has come to a screeching halt and we’re filing for bankruptcy. My husband is the primary officer of the company, but we’d also listed him as an employee and signed him up to draw a biweekly paycheck along with the rest of our employees. The company withheld taxes, Social Security and unemployment insurance from his paychecks.
Since we’ve not had work for four months now and my husband is unable to find even a regular job, he attempted to apply for unemployment benefits. (Our company paid $5,000 into that on his behalf over the last year.) After a month of deliberation, his claim was denied, since he is an officer of the company and supposedly had control of whether or not he was unemployed. I disagree – he’s not in control of the company being unable to sustain itself due to lack of work and lack of sales. Shouldn’t he be eligible to collect unemployment benefits?
-
Detroit's churches are plowing millions into redeveloping local housing and businesses. More -
Winepod attracted a wait list of eager buyers and millions from investors. Then came the recession. More -
As other major banks withdrew, Wells Fargo stepped up its small business lending. More -
Designer Chuck Comeau set up his manufacturing in Plainville -- 240 miles away from a major airport. More -
As staffs shrink, business owners are taking on support duties they haven't had to handle in years. More
