I paid my way through graduate school by purchasing decrepit old houses in not-so-bad neighborhoods, fixing them up, and either renting them out or selling them. While I was working on my MBA, one of the tenants in an apartment building I owned was tearing up the place and picking fights with the other tenants....Read More

Caution: The procedure described below for filing a late S election for an LLC is somewhat technical, and most business owners will probably want to have professional help if they have missed the deadline for making the election. We got a new client last week, a young man I’ll call Ed, who started a furniture...Read More

Season Tickets to Sports Events You cannot deduct the cost of “facilities” such as deer leases or country club memberships. However, the special rules for facilities do not apply to season tickets. You can deduct the cost of season tickets, but you must allocate the cost to each separate entertainment event. For example, here in...Read More

Many financially distressed companies accumulate large liabilities for employment taxes withheld from their employees’ wages. These taxes can be assessed personally against the company’s principals. When a company fails to pay its Federal employment taxes, the trust fund portion of those taxes can and will be assessed personally against the business’s “responsible persons” (such an...Read More

Several readers have written to ask what happens to business assets when a sole proprietorship becomes a Limited Liability Company (LLC). Last time I wrote about the legal aspects of transferring non-cash assets from the individual sole proprietor’s name into the name of the LLC. Today I would like to discuss the tax effects of...Read More

Bob owns 10% of Pawbear, an S Corporation that does commercial landscaping design and installation. He started the business in January, 2006, along with 5 other shareholders, including a married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Indelible. The Indelibles own a controlling interest in the corporation and take care of all the administrative duties, including the accounting...Read More

Several readers have asked questions about transferring assets from their individual names to a Limited Liability Company (LLC). HT writes: I have been running my business as a sole proprietor (Sch C) and want to change to an LLC. I have been depreciating several assets on Schedule C. Do I need to do anything to...Read More

The decision whether or not to treat a worker as an independent contractor rather than an employee has many consequences. Since IRS has a major stake in classifying workers as employees, while the business owner has just as large a stake in classifying them as contractors, many structural variations have been tried by businesses and...Read More