The Launch Blog: Expert Advice from the CorpNet Team
What You Need to Know About Sole Proprietorships
By far, sole proprietorships are the most popular form of business ownership. Starting your entrepreneurial journey as a sole proprietorship is also the easiest route for a startup business owner to take as the paperwork and compliance requirements are minimal....
How Should Real Estate Investors Structure Their Businesses?
Owning investment properties can be exciting and lucrative. However, investments in real estate, whether vacation rentals, long-term rentals, or properties for resale, can also create liabilities. That's why it's critical for real estate investors to wisely choose...
What Is the Difference Between Sales Tax and Sellers Use Tax?
Whether you sell products or services in one state or many states, it’s imperative to understand your business’s sales tax compliance requirements. To correctly register a business in a state and then file and the proper sales tax, you need to know the difference...
What Is a Pass-Through Entity?
A pass-through entity refers to a business that does not pay income tax of its own. Its income, losses, credits, and deductions “pass-through” to each business owner’s personal tax return, where its profits are taxed according to each owner’s individual income tax...
Tax Saving Features of Corporations, S Corporations, and LLCs
I regularly speak to business owners about entity types and their potential impact from a tax perspective. A while back, I created a webinar for accountants (and other professional services providers that work with businesses) on the topic of business structures...
How to Properly Handle Your Company’s Annual Meeting Minutes
Businesses that have incorporated as a corporation or formed a limited liability company (LLC) must carefully document their compliance activities. For example, when a corporation holds its annual general meeting (a.k.a, annual shareholder meeting), it must keep a...
10 Ways to Promote Your New Business
Excited to start your new business in the coming year? Whether you’re forming your company as a sole proprietorship or a Limited Liability Company (LLC), promoting a new business takes strategizing and fresh ideas. Otherwise, it’s challenging to get your new...
What You Need to Know About the Flexibility Act and PPP Loan Forgiveness
There’s good news for recipients of the CARES Act Payroll Protection Program’s (PPP) loan. The loan, which provided funds for small businesses to retain employees through the pandemic, has been altered with more generous terms for forgiveness. The Flexibility Act...
What You Need to Know About the EIDL Application Process and Document Requirements
If you haven’t yet applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), you have until December 21, 2020 to submit your application. There is no need to apply again if you’ve already applied, as the loans are vetted on a first-come-first-serve basis. At the latest...
Articles of Incorporation vs. Articles of Organization
If you're thinking about starting a business, you’ll want to research which business entity type will be most advantageous to you. As you go through that process, you will discover that various documents and filings need to be submitted to the state to form a...
What are Articles of Organization?
Have you decided to operate your business as a Limited Liability Company (LLC)? If you answered yes, you must comply with your state's requirements for registering your company. Those responsibilities include filing an articles of organization (sometimes called a...
What Comes After Incorporation? 12 Steps to Keep You On Track
Congratulations! You have officially registered your Limited Liability Company or Corporation with the state. But now what? What happens next? While forming an LLC or Corporation is a critical first step to operating a formal business entity, there's more work to...
Don’t Be Spooked by Your Annual Business Review!
For many small business owners, 2020 was anything but typical. This year (more than ever), we wanted to remind you of the positive changes that conducting an annual business review can bring to your company. What is an annual business review? You might think this...
The What, Why, and How of Incorporating Out of State
A lot of entrepreneurs wonder what state should be used to incorporate a new business. Is it their own state or maybe another state like Delaware or Nevada? There is no easy answer to that question, however, there are definite benefits for some businesses to...
What You Need to Know About Collecting Sales Tax
Before a retailer or service provider can open for business, they first must get approval from the state for sales tax registration. Not all states charge sales tax, and not all products and services are taxable, so it’s essential to learn the facts before you find...
Payroll Taxes 101
Whether you’re a sole proprietor and your company’s only employee, or a corporation with 40 employees, you are responsible for collecting and paying employment taxes to federal and state tax agencies. However, while federal payroll taxes are the same no matter...
Seven Steps to Creating a Business Emergency Preparedness Checklist
It's an understatement to say that 2020 has been a tumultuous year. Nearly every business has felt the pandemic's economic effects, and many have faced natural disasters (such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires). With CorpNet's location in southern California,...
3 Must-Have Documents for Filing an LLC
If you’re considering filing as an LLC (Limited Liability Company), it’s probably in part because this business structure provides business owners with liability protection and pass-through tax status, while minimizing the business formalities and paperwork you’re responsible for.
How to Legally Start a Food Truck Business
According to IBISWorld, the food truck industry has 25,476 businesses in 2020. Growth in the industry from 2015 to 2020 averaged 8.7 percent. With the COVID-19 crisis a reality now, arguably, the food truck industry may be better suited than brick and mortar...
7 Ways Your Business Can Crush It During COVID-19
Every business owner hopes to reach the peak of business success. You know, when you’re just crushing it—when smooth operations and growing profits allow you to breathe a satisfied sigh of contentment and pride. This year that feeling may seem farther from your...
How to Start a Daycare Business
Daycare businesses provide a critical service to working families. Parents and guardians need reliable, responsible child care services to ensure that their children are well taken care of while adults in the household work hard to earn a living. Even during the...
Top FAQs for Small Business Licenses and Permits
When you’re starting a business there’s so much to know, it can be overwhelming. Let us take some of the complexity out of the startup process by answering the top FAQs entrepreneurs have about small business licenses and permits. Is a business license the same as...
A Mid-Year Business Checklist to Get You Back on Track
Tax season is over (for most of us). So, what’s next for business owners and professional advisors with business clients? With so much disruption and distraction this year, you may have fallen behind keeping up with compliance for business licenses, permits, and...
How to Start a Restaurant Business
Are you thinking about how to start a restaurant business? Without a doubt, it's an industry that contributes immensely to our economy. According to statistics from the National Restaurant Association, there are over one million restaurant locations in the United...
LLP vs. LLC
When you’re starting a small business that has more than one owner, you and your partner(s) may have concerns about your personal liability risks. If this is the case, it would be wise to compare LLP vs. LLC business structures. Limited liability partnerships (LLP)...
Are Your Accounting Clients Worried About a Recession? Why They Need You Now More Than Ever
As far back as October 2019, half of Americans were already concerned a major recession was on the horizon and now that concern has become a reality, according to top economists. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the U.S. economy actually...
Post-COVID Marketing Strategies for Accountants
Clients need their accountants more than ever in our post-COVID-19 world. Whether it’s getting ready for the extended tax deadline, figuring out how to utilize government relief funds or how to start a new business in a recession, accountants need to make sure...
Sole Proprietorship vs. Partnership
You have much to think about and many questions to answer when starting a business. One of the most fundamental considerations is what type of business structure is right for you. Often, brand new small businesses choose to operate as a sole proprietorship or...
How Smart Businesses are Pivoting to Find Success in the Midst of COVID-19
Business owners are constantly moving. Whether it’s tracking new trends, operating the shop, meeting with clients, or attending networking events, you’d think there can’t be one more thing to add to their plates. And then, COVID-19 hit. As business owners...
Marketing in the New Normal of COVID-19
Things are different today due to the global coronavirus pandemic. While we may eventually get back to some version of normal, when that happens is subject to much debate. COVID-19 changed how business gets done, from suppliers and distribution to sales and...
