POST CATEGORY : Legal

6 Steps Every SMB Owner Needs to Complete After Incorporating

Forming an LLC or Limited Liability Corporation is a great first step toward legitimizing your company and to insulate you and your family from the financial liabilities of your business.

Most small business owners quickly find out the hard way that there’s a few more steps they need to take before moving away from their days operating as a sole proprietor.

SMB owner

Here are 6 you don’t want to forget about:

1. Compliance Plan

Now that you’re an LLC, the state(s) you operate in and are registered in will expect a yearly report. This is more of a formality than something you’ll need to dread every single year, simply involving you updating your company and personal contact info for state records.…

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Everything You Need to Know About Business Partnerships (Especially With a Friend or Relative)

As if entrepreneurship wasn’t scary enough, we have this incomparably unknown and yet timeless institution of corporate America, from the smallest endeavor of the lemonade stand to a superior launch of a law firm — the business partnership. Of course, one would think that such a thing would be a lot easier to deal with than simply being a sole proprietorship as many entrepreneurs are. That’s not the case.

business partnership

You’re cooperating with another human being, basically. It’s a type of unincorporated business, subject to everything like taxes, certain regulations and even government inspections depending on the industry you’re in. There will always be conflicts of interest, disagreements and legal repercussions.…

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Everything You Need to Know About Choosing The Right Business Structure

If only it were so cut and dry when starting a business, we wouldn’t have all these headaches with paperwork, legal stuff and guidelines to deal with. However, the way business works would be a disaster if we didn’t have these specific legal structures to choose from, namely….

  • Sole Proprietorship
  • Partnership
  • (C) Corporation
  • (S) Corporation
  • LLC (Limited Liability Company)

business structure

That’s a lot to take in, especially if you may not know how they’re all different. Each one has specific advantages depending on the needs of the business. Each one also has certain aspects you must take into account, or else you’re losing money on account of your negligence.…

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Human Rights Over 50 Years

Whether political talking point or respected institution, human rights are certainly one of the most talked about topics today. That they were developed more than 50 years ago and remain an important aspect of life shows just how important – or to some, how controversial – human rights really are.

A Mail Online article with the title “Human Rights and an Affront to Justice” demonstrates the debate regarding human rights in our country. Institutions like the European Court of Human Rights are both praised and pilloried by a range of political and social commentators.

Equal human rights

Take an international focus on human rights, however, and there’s little in the way of criticism.…

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5 Tips to Having The Best Terms of Service

This is undisputed, really — a growing successful company needs direction, plain and simple. Without it, you’ve got a corporation just going wherever the wind blows, and sometimes that wind will blow clear across the ocean, into a monsoon, with crashing waves, and the ship gets way too torn up to see the light of day. It’s not a pretty sight.

creating terms of service

To avoid the storm, though, you’ve got one concept here acting like your guiding compass: the “Terms of Service” agreement. Let that lead you. With that kind of document, you can rest assured that you’ll always find your way with your company.…

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Dear US-Based Small Business Owner: It is Time to Get Your Books Ready for Year End

Profits, depreciation, travel costs, healthcare, startup costs, training expenses, charitable donations – all these and more represent little numbers on a page that can save you money if you have your books in order when the “Revenue Man” comes a calling in the next couple of months. Rules and paperwork vary significantly from one country to the next, however most do employ many of the same basics.

For those of you with businesses based in the good ‘ol “US-of-A”…

It’s crunch time!

working with business tax documents

If you don’t have your tax paperwork in order, then you’ll be in for a real slap in the face when business resumes full-swing in the New Year, and your accountant starts hassling you for the receipts from that big move you made to a new location this year, so they can deduct it from your individual 1040 return.…

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5 Ways Office Holiday Parties can Bring You Lawsuits

It’s party time! As we are now technically in the holiday season, it’s time to think about what many businesses are focusing on these days: Office holiday party.

office holiday party

It’s a great way to end the year with colleagues, and a great reward for the hard work everybody is doing throughout the year. If you, for some reasons, never arrange any office parties, ‘tis the season you should consider doing it – it’s good for your employees’ morale and job satisfaction.

While many are focusing on how to make it a memorable event (on a budget,) I would like to remind you about one issue which many often neglect.…

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Surviving Legal Terms: Does Seeking Online Help Make Sense?

Law plays an important role of keeping mankind in the right. Like a bracket, it holds everything together, putting a sense of moral justice in everything we do.

legal help

Law, in fact, influences our daily life. This also holds true with business. From being obliged to follow the traffic to being obliged to honor signed business contracts, we are under a pledge which compels us to follow our indicated duties or else, we experience penalties – even lawsuits.

Signing business contracts and documents are among the seemingly simple situations but are in fact, complex. A contract may contain legal terms that the signee should fully understand before she sign it in order to enter into the agreement.…

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The Benefits Of Building A Relationship With A Law Firm

Entrepreneurs and business leaders are faced with a variety of challenges on a daily basis. Some of the most difficult challenges business owners face are those that concern matters of law. Even the most experienced business leader may be at a loss when it comes to the ins and outs of legal documents, actions and proceedings.

Benefits Of Building A Relationship With A Law Firm

Instead of making risky guesses on legal matters, business leaders and entrepreneurs can place their trust in law firms. Businesses of all sizes can benefit from keeping a law firm on retainer. Having a firm on retainer essentially means that a business leader has an advocate on his or her side whenever needed.…

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Don’t Make a Federal Case Out of It

business disputes and lawsuitsEven as we’re starting to see the early stages of an economic recovery, businesses and individuals continue to trudge through the ugly legal fallout of deals-gone-bad.   Countless lawsuits have resulted from soured joint ventures, alleged breaches of contract, and plain old disputes over who owed what to whom.   These lawsuits can be costly, time-consuming, and counterproductive.   Worst of all, they can distract you from what’s truly important: tending to your business’s current needs and helping it survive-and thrive-for the future.

As reported in the New York Times on December 28, 2009, recession-related lawsuits, even apart from home foreclosures, are on the rise.  …

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