During Christmas break and summer vacation, young family members may be looking for a job – and having a hard time finding one. Hire them in your family business, and you get a double benefit: helping the kids gain valuable experience and garnering tax breaks for your...
Selling items on eBay and other online auction Web sites has become a very popular way to get rid of unwanted household stuff, as well as a way to turn a little profit. Many users have even started full-time businesses auctioning merchandise on the Web. But like any...
For many business owners, a business appraisal or "valuation" can furnish vital planning information and help mitigate risk. Consider the following: * Establishing a verifiable value for your business can show whether assets have appreciated at a reasonable rate. If...
One of the first decisions you face as a new business owner is whether or not to incorporate the business. The biggest advantage of incorporating is limitation of your liability. Your responsibility for debts and other liabilities incurred by a corporation is...
If you earned $400 or more of net profit during 2013 (as an example) from work as a sole proprietor or independent contractor, you may owe self-employment tax. That's true no matter what your age – even if you're receiving social security benefits. The tax is assessed...
Every business should give serious consideration to how the company would deal with the death, disability, or departure of one of the owners. Like a will, a buy/sell agreement (also known as a business continuity contract) spells out how assets and other business...
Every week reporters publish stories about companies that have lost thousands, even millions of dollars because of fraud. They recount the dreadful details of business owners who learned – too late – that a lack of basic controls left their companies vulnerable to...
