Law and Taxes

Plan for Changes in Partnership Ownership with a Buy-Sell Agreement

Many business partners overlook a critical element of their partnership agreement that can save them both money and angst: buy-sell provisions. When you create buy-sell, or buyout, provisions for your partnership agreement, you and your partners can prepare for events that have been the downfall of more than a few successful small businesses — namely,...


When Your Business Partner Is Your Life Partner

If you are going into business for yourself and your spouse will help out, you don’t need to hire your husband or wife as an employee or independent contractor, nor do you need to form a LLC or corporation. If you follow certain guidelines, you can continue to operate as a sole proprietorship (a one-owner...


Corporation Basics

Most people have heard that forming a corporation provides “limited liability” — that is, it limits your personal liability for business debts. What you may not know is that there’s more to creating and running a corporation than filing a few papers. You’ll need to keep excellent records to handle the more complicated corporate tax...


Partnership Basics

By definition, a partnership is a business with more than one owner that has not filed papers with the state to become a corporation or LLC (limited liability company). There are two basic types of partnerships—general partnerships and limited partnerships. This article discusses only general partnerships—those in which every partner has a hand in the...


Sole Proprietorship Basics

A sole proprietorship is a business that is owned by one person (and sometimes his or her spouse) and that isn’t registered with the state as a corporation or a limited liability company (LLC). Sole proprietorships are so easy to set up and maintain that you may already own one without knowing it. For instance,...


Simple and Enforceable Contracts

For most contracts, legalese is not essential nor helpful; contractual agreements are best expressed in simple, everyday English. Although lots of contracts are filled with mind-bending legal gibberish, there’s no reason why this has to be true. For most contracts, legalese is not essential or even helpful. On the contrary, the agreements you’ll want to...


Tax on Internet Sales

Here’s the skinny on Internet sales tax: who pays it, who doesn’t and why it makes a difference to state governments and brick-and-mortar retailers. It’s hardly a secret that shoppers hate paying sales tax and love a tax-free bargain. Case in point, the tax-free shops in airports that are so successful at separating Bahamas-bound travelers...


S Corporation Business Facts and Options

Many entrepreneurs have two goals when choosing a structure for their business: protecting their personal assets from business claims and having business profits taxed on their individual tax returns. Not long ago, an S corporation was the only choice for these business owners. In the last few years, however, the popularity of S corporations has...


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