A Guide To Little Known Legal Loopholes For Small Businesses

By Marjorie Richards


Starting a business can be a daunting and expensive experience. For small business owners, every penny counts, especially in the beginning stages of starting the business and getting all the legal paperwork in order. These little known legal loopholes can go a long way in helping small business owners to save quite a bit of money in the process, which is always a good thing.

To begin with, it's really crucial that the business is registered as the right kind of legal entity. Sadly, not all businesses are subject to equal taxes. As such, being listed as a corporation can make a huge difference as opposed to being listed as a partnership, sole proprietorship or a Limited Liability Company (LLC).

Once a business is listed properly, then it becomes clearer which tax bracket the business falls into. As a corporation, a business can be listed as a 'C' Corporation or an 'S' Corporation. Again, this makes a huge difference when it comes to saving money. An 'S' Corporation is able to save up to thousands more in taxes simply because of the way the arrangement for said businesses is set out. Subsequently, it's a good idea for owners of partnership or sole proprietorship businesses to consider forming a corporation instead.

If you want to save big on taxes, then you should begin paying yourself a real salary instead of taking whatever profit the business makes. As an employee rendering services in your business, you can receive an FMV, which is Fair Market Value wages for your services. This helps you to avoid paying excessive amounts in payroll tax by overpaying yourself in profits.

Excess profit is then paid out as a dividend, which is not subject to payroll tax. This can happen easily under 'S' Corporation arrangements. For other business models, even if there is FMV in place, a 15 percent payroll tax is still applicable on profits as well as employee salaries.

As an 'S' Corporation business, you will be able to get tax deductions on losses. However, if you have a 'C' Corporation, you may have to carry those losses forward into the first year that the company experiences any profit. This could become an issue as owning a small business is quite a struggle and many have to close before ever seeing a profit.

Another very good way to save money when running a small business is to hire family members, namely children who are old enough to work. They will, of course, need to receive fair pay for their services, but by keeping the business in the family, it can get a deduction every year in taxes. This is due to each child being allowed a certain threshold of income completely tax-free.

Last but not least is the issue of vacation time. Instead of taking separate vacations, small business owners should try and work a few extra days into business trips. This way, travel expenses become deductible as part of business spending, while allowing time for rest and relaxation without having to spend any more.




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