There are many advantages to being the owner of a small or solo law firm. In fact, for most, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. However, if you asked someone who is a solo what’s one thing they don’t like about calling the shots is that income is unpredictable. Unlike an employee at a law firm where a check is waiting for you every couple of weeks when you’re self employed it’s usually the exact opposite. You could be feasting one...

The S-Corp has been a popular entity choice for small business owners. However, there are instances where S-Corp shareholders may want to end their tax status. The S-Corp structure has several benefits including potential tax savings. It also comes with several rules which, if not followed, could lead to penalties, automatic revocation of the S-Corp status or both.  S-Corp Requirements Must be a U.S. corporation Must have no more than 100...

Your health is your wealth so it’s no is surprise that most employers want to offer health insurance to their employees. However, for many S-Corp business owners the cost of insurance is too expensive to offer such a benefit. Health Insurance Important to Employees For some workers health insurance is nice to have but for others, particularly those who have to deal with chronic medical conditions, it’s literally a matter of life or death. A...

An employer identification number (EIN) is important to a business and is required if the business wants to pay employees, open a business bank account or provide proof of their EIN to a vendor. While there is no cost to obtain an EIN it’s still important to have.  To obtain an EIN you must first complete Form SS-4. This form is available online. Once that form is filed the IRS will send a letter confirming the EIN also known as Form...

Taxes as an employee is pretty straight forward. You get taxes withheld from your paycheck and at the end of the year your employer provides you with a W-2. Things are a little different when you’re self employed. We’ll simplify and explain the differences so if, or when, you become self-employed you will know what to expect. You are self employed person if you do business as an independent contractor or sole proprietor or are a partner in a...

We’ve written before about the differences between an employee and independent contractor. What happens though if you’ve determined that someone you’d like to hire actually is an independent contractor but he or she refuses to give you Form W-9? To recap Form W-9 is the document independent contractors you hire must complete to provide their tax ID number. There could be a variety of reasons why some people refuse to fill out a W-9 with the...