Business Licenses: Which Type Do You Need?

Failure to become properly licensed can have a variety of consequences, so it is imperative that all small business owners learn the regulations in their location so that they can meet every requirement.

Which business licenses you need will depend on your location as well as the type of business that you own. Because there is such a variety of requirements from location to location, it is impossible to provide a list that would apply to every business owner.

Instead, below are some of the most commonly required business licenses. You will need to do some research to find out which apply to your location and your business.

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Business Structures 101

The difference between operating as a sole proprietorship and an LLC, for example can be the difference between keeping your home and personal savings should someone sue your business.

Know the Differences

Learn the differences between the common business structure types and then operate in the one that you feel will be most beneficial to you.

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4 Reasons to Switch Business Structures

Here are four reasons that you might need to change your business structure:

Addition of partners.

If you decide that you want to share the responsibility for management and decision-making, then you will need to change the structure of your small business.

For example, you would do well to consider becoming a partnership or a corporation. If you want to incorporate, there are several possibilities: a C-Corporation, an S-Corporation, or a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC).

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Five Tax-Time Audit Red Flags For Small Business

Ahead of the IRS issuing its annual “Dirty Dozen” list of the most egregious tax schemes and scams (here’s the 2008 list), accounting firm BDO Seidman has kindly prepared a primer for small business owners on audit red flags.

Small business owners are about three times more likely to be audited, all the more reason to doublecheck returns and keep good records, according to BDO. The firm says to keep the following in mind:

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Getting Ready for Tax Season

Business tax preparation is something that business owners should start to think about early on, but many do wait until the last minute.

That, unfortunately, is a mistake that can cost them.

Use a Professional

Preparing for tax season is not as simple as filing personal tax forms. While it is possible to learn to do it yourself, it is a good idea to hire a tax professional.

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Payroll Taxes and the Small Business Owner: Let the Good Times Roll

As a small business owner, it is likely that you will have more involvement with different types of taxes than the average individual, and this is certainly true if you have employees working for you.

If this is the case, then you have to worry about the taxes that you have to deduct from your payroll.

Take a shot of caffeine before you read this article, but try and make it through - because understanding and properly filing payroll taxes is going to be an important part of your small business’ success.

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Corporate Tax Breaks For Your Small Business Structure

You will obviously want to choose the structure which will allow you to take advantage of the most tax benefits and corporate tax breaks possible, often determined by how much your business or personal income from that business is.

Let’s take a look at the different corporate tax breaks that can be applied within the different corporate structures.

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How to Use the New Small Business Operating Loss Deductions

As you may know, the economic stimulus law passed in February includes key provisions that allow struggling small businesses to re-file their taxes to carry back net operating losses (NOLs) up to five years. Result: Qualifying small tax-refund businesses with losses can get immediate refunds of income taxes paid in prior years.

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Tax Season + Your Personal Information: ID Theft Paradise

As you hunker down to fill out reams of paper work for filing your taxes keep in mind that identity thieves are planning and about the increased availability of information. You don't have to be helpless or worse assume that your data is safe, when it's not.

Todd Feinman, identity theft prevention expert and CEO of Identify Finder shares some misconceptions about data protection/privacy with us and provides tips on how to protect our data and personal information below.

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