Tax considerations are a significant factor in how entrepreneurs structure their businesses. The qualified business income deduction (or QBI tax deduction) is an important tax deduction that allows eligible businesses to deduct up to 20% of their qualified business income from their taxes. As a provision of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), the QBI deduction was intended to help business owners of companies with pass-through tax elections lower their taxable income and receive additional tax benefits.

In today’s post, we’ll cover all the essential details you need to know […]

According to Global Workplace Analytics, 25-30% of the workforce will be working from home multiple days a week by the end of 2021. Already a trend before the pandemic, remote working became the “new normal” for businesses of all sizes struggling to stay afloat during safer-at-home directives. Today, both employers and employees have found the positives that remote working offers. However, only employers can claim work from home tax deductions on their income taxes.

Let’s review who can claim work from home tax deductions, what expenses qualify, and how you should calculation those […]

Depending on a business’s entity type and the state it’s registered in, its owners may be required to hold annual meetings and record minutes from those meetings. But how do you know if that requirement applies to your company?

In this article, I’m going to explain what annual meetings and annual meeting minutes are to help you get on the path to determining if you must fulfill those important business compliance tasks. If you’re a professional services provider that coaches or gives direction to business owners, this information may be helpful to your […]

As we move into the fall and winter months it’s time to begin thinking of year-end compliance responsibilities and business activities. We’d like to help you prepare for the year-end and we want to help you get all your legal ducks in a row. To assist in these efforts, we’ve put together a year-end compliance checklist to set you on the right path.

And to make the entire year-end compliance process as easy as possible, we’ve also created an annual compliance checklist you can download in a PDF.

Business […]

Besides going through all the proper steps to set up a business, understanding and following through with ongoing compliance requirements is immensely important. I regularly address small business compliance considerations in my writings on the CorpNet blog and webinars that I present to accounting and tax professionals. Compliance is mission-critical to entrepreneurial success, so in today’s post, I am sharing a comprehensive list of many of the requirements business owners should be aware of.

Realize that business compliance requirements vary depending on where a company is located, the legal business structure, type of […]

I’m often asked if it is advantageous for a small business to hire family members. Some entrepreneurs have asked if hiring relatives presents legal issues, while others have asked if it is ethical. Whether you believe this practice is good business or nepotism, there are a lot of companies hiring relatives in full-time and contract positions.

In the U.S. today, there are 5.5 million family-owned businesses, employing 63% of the American workforce. That adds up to many family business owners working with family members. These scenarios could be fraught with angst or, if […]

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, an organization does not have to pay federal income tax on its profits related to its business purpose. That’s an important advantage as it allows organizations to keep more of their profits and use them to further their causes. However, if a nonprofit organization fails to file the required reports and 990 series returns to the IRS, the IRS will revoke 501(c)(3) status. This revocation will negatively impact the nonprofit in multiple ways.

Fortunately, the IRS does provide a path for nonprofit organizers to reinstate their revoked 501(c)(3) status. […]

Not all, but some states require business entities to file an annual report and pay a franchise tax each year. While the name suggests that a franchise tax report might only apply to businesses that are franchises, that’s not the case!

A franchise tax is a fee that companies pay for the privilege of being registered or organized in the state. As a registered business entity, a company gains personal liability protection for its owners, certain tax deductions, business name protection, and possibly other benefits. In exchange for this protection, the state serves […]

Choosing the perfect business or brand name is only half the battle when starting a new venture. You need to protect that name from getting stolen or misused. But what if you haven’t started using the brand name yet? The good news is even if your website is still under construction and marketing materials are still at the printers, you can apply for protection with an intent to use trademark application.

What is a Trademark?

In its most basic definition, a trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, design, or combination of these elements identifying the source […]