Bottled Protection Points provide tips for the business owner to contemplate and, if applicable, implement into his or her everyday operation. The Protection Points span the three interwoven areas of Business Law–Asset Protection; Estate Planning Protection; and Employment Law–all important considerations for the knowledgeable entrepreneur.
Bottled Protection Points are driven by Bottled Business Sense Newsletter; The Bottled Business Sense Show; and
WFB Legal Consulting, Inc.
Many times employers improperly classify their employees as independent contractors so they, the employers, do not have to pay payroll taxes, the minimum wage or overtime, comply with other wage and hour law requirements such as providing meal periods and rest breaks, or reimburse their workers for business expenses incurred in performing their jobs. Moreover, employers do not have to cover independent contractors under workers’ compensation insurance, and are not liable for payments for unemployment insurance, disability insurance, or social security.
Make sure you have a LAWYER FOR BUSINESS who provides you with the BEST ASSET PROTECTION available.
WFB Legal Consulting Inc. and the Bottle Business Sense Newsletter proudly present the launch of The Bottled Business Sense Radio Show. The show will launch June 3, 2014. More information will be made available as the show date approaches. However, the show will combine the unique features of Best Asset Protection legal principles in conjunction with the most current media marketing techniques that will grow, promote and sustain your business.
The hosts of the show will be Bill Bernard of WFB Legal Consulting Inc. and Rick Moscoso of R2 Visual Studios. Plan on tuning in to learn how you can apply all of the latest and greatest legal and marketing tools necessary to ensure the longevity of your business.
Is your business protected against the threat of malicious litigation and frivolous lawsuits? Are you sinking company profits into marketing campaigns that do nothing to contribute to the growth of your business?
The Bottled Business Sense Show will provide practical business perspectives that uniquely emphasize both legal and media marketing strategies to protect and insure the longevity of your business.
Whether you’re trying to provide a startup business with some level of stability, or an established business with fool-proof asset and estate protection, or simply attempting to get a better return for your business marketing dollars, Bill Bernard and Rick Moscoso will expose potential pitfalls to insure the security and growth of your business, free from unwanted expense and the threat of litigation.
You’ll learn how to implement marketing and protection tools equal to those used by today’s most successful corporations.
Happy New Year and I hope 2014 has been off to phenomenal start for everyone of you! With each new year comes a new set of goals. As humans, we’re constantly aspiring to improve ourselves, whether it’s wanting to lose weight, exercise more, get organized, spend less money, etc. In light of this yearly tradition of creating lists, here are five attainable new year business goals for the small business owner:
1. Delegate More
When you’re just starting out with your business, money is usually tight and it’s natural to want to tighten your purse strings. However, small business owners are also notorious for having trouble handing over the reigns. Trying to take care of everything yourself can be harmful to both your well being and your business. With only one person in charge of the whole show, there’s only so far you can scale. This year, consider tasks that you can delegate down, such as the countless tasks that are easy to do and don’t require specific expertise. If you’re worried about costs, just remember how much of your valuable, revenue-generating time you’ll be freeing up. Your business can’t grow when you’re focused on busy work. In addition to delegating down, think about areas of your business that you should delegate up. These are the tasks that require special knowledge and skills and ones not related to the core wheelhouse of your business. While DIY may seem easier on the wallet in the short term, it’s typically better in the long run to hire a specialist to handle complex issues, such as an, accountant for bookkeeping or taxes or an expert attorney for handling your legal paperwork like incorporation.
2. Get Your Books Ready for Tax Time Early This Year
Are you guilty of waiting until the last minute to organize and file your taxes? Do you find yourself wading through emails, drawers, and your car to find any stray business receipts you can expense? Do you need to try to remember a full year’s mileage expenses on April 13th before tax day? Don’t wait until April to start on your tax forms this year. Start fresh by organizing your books from day one of the new year and start gathering what you need for your prior year’s taxes now (even if that means outsourcing your accounting or signing up for a new cloud-based application).
3. Protect Your Assets with an LLC or Corporation
While legal fine print isn’t the most exciting part of running a business, forming an LLC or Corporation can be critical to your business and personal financial health. These business structures protect your personal assets from any liabilities of the company and provide the BEST ASSET PROTECTION. This means that if your business can’t pay its debts or happens to be sued, your own personal property may be shielded from any judgment. In addition, these formal business structures can improve your tax situation and carry other benefits that you may want to discuss with your CPA or tax advisor. If you’re not quite ready to take the plunge to incorporate, you should at least register your business name with the state. This simple step is known as filing a DBA (Doing Business As or Fictitious Business Name) and it does two things:
It makes sure that you’re legally able to use a business name.
Ensures that no one else can use your business name in your state.
4. Put Your Customer First
As a small business owner, you know you wouldn’t be anywhere if not for your customers. As you move into the new year, put your customers first in all that you do. A small business can stand out in a crowded market by offering impeccable, personal, and customer-centric service. Treat your customers as people, not numbers or sales figures. Listen to your customer’s needs and bend over backwards to make them happy.
5. Set Aside Time for Yourself
As an entrepreneur, you probably suffer from little separation between your personal and work life. This year, make a point to set aside time for yourself each and every day. Go to the gym, do something you enjoy or just turn off your phone and other devices for a half hour each day. It’s important to recharge your batteries in order to stay focused and motivated throughout the year. A change of scenery can stoke your creativity. Who knows what brilliant plan you’ll dream up when you step outside your daily grind. Sticking to a goal is tough for anyone. The most important thing is to create realistic ones that make sense for you and your business. What are the goals you’ve set for your business in the new year?
Please feel free to reach out and let us know how we can help.
Here’s to a successful and prosperous 2014! WFB LEGAL CONSULTING, Inc.
OFFER: 10% off any service, excluding Basic setup and filing fees, until January 31, 2014.
Set up your business entity before year’s end and make sure you have the BEST ASSET PROTECTION available for your business and personal assets. Get organized and utilize business deductions to lower your taxable income. Having a good business attorney and a good accountant on retainer, working hand in hand, are two steps you can take to be ready should the unexpected arise. Legal action by customers, suppliers and even employees, as well as tax audits by the IRS–all emphasize the need for iron-clad asset protection and proper tax planning.
REMEMBER: You don’t have to be in the wrong to be sued–or audited!
Alaska was the first US jurisdiction to enact laws allowing protection for self-settled trusts (in 1997) and was shortly followed by Delaware, Nevada, South Dakota and a few others. These trusts are known as Domestic Asset Protection Trusts (DAPTs). Usually, a DAPT must comply with the following requirements:
The trust must be irrevocable and spendthrift;
At least one resident trustee must be appointed;
Some administration of the trust must be conducted in respective state;
The settlor cannot act as a trustee.
Trusts are generally governed by the laws of the jurisdiction that is designated by the settlor as the governing jurisdiction. There are two exceptions to the general rule, which may create conflicts of law: (i) states will not recognize laws of sister states that violate their own public policy, and (ii) if the trust owns real property, such property will be governed by the law of jurisdiction that is the property’s situs. Additionally, the Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution provides that each state must give full faith and credit to the laws of every other state. This means that if a court from another state refuses to recognize the protection of a DAPT and enters a judgment for the creditor, the creditor may be able to enforce the judgment against the trustee of the DAPT, even if that trustee was located in the DAPT jurisdiction. The efficacy of a DAPT may also be challenged under the Supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, under the applicable fraudulent transfer statute, or because the settlor retained some prohibited control over the trust.
These trusts should always be supervised by a lawyer for businesswho is proficient in estate planning law in order to ensure the best asset protection available to the particular estate in question.
Generally speaking, if a principal is still living and capable of managing their own affairs their relatives cannot change the POA. However, if the person becomes incapacitated a General POA is extinguished and the relatives can petition for a guardianship of the person. If there is a Durable POA in effect it remains in effect even after the principal becomes incapacitated but the relatives can petition for a guardianship of the person. If granted, the POA will be extinguished. Moreover, if the principal is deceased the POA is extinguished and the next of kin must probate the estate by petitioning the court.
Presented by: BEST ASSET PROTECTION SERVICES GROUP at WFB Legal Consulting, Inc.: Lawyer For Business
Please be advised that the information in this blog is for general public informational use only and does not establish an-attorney-client relationship.
Most people understand that in the world of asset protection planning and estate protection planning, the contracts which encompass the plans in question are always in writing. Everything you do to protect your business and personal estates involves the preparation of a contract, as does most of what you do with contractors, suppliers and even at times employees, during the course of running your business. I thought it might be important to point out some initial prerequisites with regard to the requirements surrounding a written contract, the necessity of which, will directly affect the validity of a transaction, and thus the contract itself. The following contracts must always be in writing:
Contracts involving the sale of real estate or an interest in real estate.
Leases of real estate lasting longer than one year.
A promise to pay someone else’s debt.
Contracts that will take more than one year to perform.
Contracts for the sale of goods consisting of tangible personal property, worth at least $500 or more.
However, In order to protect yourself from transactions which occur during the course of your business, I recommend that every contract you enter into on behalf of your business be in writing, in order to cement the terms of the contract in a form that is less susceptible to dispute. In this way, you are left with an assurance of what you bargained for and are less likely to expose your assets to loss should a “contrived” dispute arise.
The limited liability company combines the limited liability advantage of a Corporation with the protection of your ownership interest. Yet, there are essential reasons we should prefer a Limited Liability CO. (LLC) to either the Limited Partnership or even the Corporation:
– As with an S corporation, you can avoid double taxation with a Limited Liability Company. And, the Limited Liability Company can avoid the C-Corporation’s corporate income tax, should you so choose. Income from the Limited Liability Company can be singly taxed to its members, as with a partnership. You may also avoid state corporate franchise tax by using an LLC.
– Importantly, you incur no personal liability with a limited liability company. As with a corporation, LLC managers and members are personally protected from the creditors of the LLC, even when the members actually manage the company
-In contrast, general partners of a Limited Partnership are personally liable for partnership debts. Moreover, the limited partners of a Limited Partnership cannot participate in managing the partnership without incurring personal liability for partnership debts.
The very best in asset protection always incorporates employee awareness for small business owners. All too often, business owners make all or a combination of the following three critical mistakes:
1. They fail to form a business entity which feasibly can create protection from lawsuits filed by employees, suppliers and customers;
2. They fail to carry the appropriate amount of commercial insurance necessary for the operation of the business; and
3. They fail to distinguish between the proper organization of the business and the smooth running of the business as it regards employer obligations and employee rights under the law.
I urge business owners to form a structured formal business entity capable of inside and outside protection– by that I mean protection from internal lawsuits as well as from external lawsuits. Contact G.A.I.T.E.way Business Solutions at www.gaiteway.net, in order to obtain the proper commercial insurance, health insurance and the full gamut of legal and coaching business expertise, in order to ensure the smooth operation of your business and the protection of its valuable assets. Finally, I would urge that every business owner create a twofold the level of protection through the utilization of a irrevocable living trust. With this great tool, you can provide a vehicle for the smooth transition of your assets after you pass, as well as an additional layer of protection for your business during your lifetime.
Remember, lawyers for business owners everywhere recommend employer-employee awareness; entity creation; and insurance insulation for the BEST ASSET PROTECTION available.
Below is a brief recap of relevant estate planning guidelines. Please see an Estate Planning attorney at WFBLC, Inc. for a plan tailored to your particular business and family needs. Highlights of a bill Congress passed Tuesday aimed at averting wide tax increases and budget cuts scheduled to take effect with the New Year. The measure would raise taxes by about $600 billion over 10 years compared with tax policies that were due to expire at midnight Monday. It would also delay for two months across-the-board cuts to the budgets of the Pentagon and numerous domestic agencies. Highlights: —Income tax rates: Extends decade-old tax cuts on incomes up to $400,000 for individuals, $450,000 for couples. Earnings above those amounts would be taxed at a rate of 39.6 percent, up from the current 35 percent. Extends Clinton-era caps on itemized deductions and the phase-out of the personal exemption for individuals making more than $250,000 and couples earning more than $300,000. —Estate tax: Estates would be taxed at a top rate of 40 percent, with the first $5 million in value exempted for individual estates and $10 million for family estates. In 2012, such estates were subject to a top rate of 35 percent. —Capital gains, dividends: Taxes on capital gains and dividend income exceeding $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for families would increase from 15 percent to 20 percent. —Alternative minimum tax: Permanently addresses the alternative minimum tax and indexes it for inflation to prevent nearly 30 million middle- and upper-middle-income taxpayers from being hit with higher tax bills averaging almost $3,000. The tax was originally designed to ensure that the wealthy did not avoid owing taxes by using loopholes. —Other tax changes: Extends for five years Obama-sought expansions of the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit, and an up-to-$2,500 tax credit for college tuition. Also extends for one year accelerated “bonus” depreciation of business investments in new property and equipment, a tax credit for research and development costs and a tax credit for renewable energy such as wind-generated electricity. —Unemployment benefits: Extends jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed for one year. —Cuts in Medicare reimbursements to doctors: Blocks a 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors for one year. The cut is the product of an obsolete 1997 budget formula. —Social Security payroll tax cut: Allows a 2-percentage-point cut in the payroll tax first enacted two years ago to lapse, which restores the payroll tax to 6.2 percent. —Across-the-board cuts: Delays for two months $109 billion worth of across-the-board spending cuts set to start striking the Pentagon and domestic agencies this week. Cost of $24 billion is divided between spending cuts and new revenues from rule changes on converting traditional individual retirement accounts into Roth IRAs.
BEST ASSET PROTECTION SERVICES GROUP: WFB Legal Consulting, Inc. *Please be advised that this communication is for general public informational use only and does not establish an attorney-client relationship. For more information, please contact WFB Legal Consulting, Inc.—a BEST ASSET PROTECTION Services Group at (949) 413-6535.
