Tag: Business registration

Use your Retirement Plan to Fund your Startup

Business Entity Formation, Financing Your Business, Startup Formation, Stock, Tax

First of all, I won’t advise anyone to withdraw their 401(k) funds early as the tax hit the IRS enacts is insane.  If you are thinking about doing that, please don’t, or at least don’t do so until you’ve spoken to your accountant.

This post will, however, detail how to use your qualified retirement plan or IRA to start a new, or buy an existing, business.  This name given to the process I’ll discuss is rollovers as business startups (“ROBS”).  The main gist is that an individual’s current retirement plan is rolled over into a newly established 401(k) plan sponsored by a startup company and then used to purchase the startup company’s stock.  The ROBS arrangement allows income taxes and penalties (see IRC Section 72(t))to be avoided because it is a rollover from one qualified plan to another. Read more

Domestic International Sales Corporations

Business Entity Formation, Choice of Entity, Startup Formation, Tax

If you export products for sale of any type and don’t know what an IC-DISC (or simply a DISC) is, or think it’s a round piece of plastic you put in your computer’s drive, then keep reading.  Any United States business with qualifying export sales can save a large amount of money with the use of a Interest Charge Domestic International Sales Corporation (referred to hereinafter as a “DISC”). Read more

Series LLCs

Business Entity Formation, Choice of Entity, LLCs, Startup Formation, Tax

If you are one of those people who is tired of having to form seperate entities (LLCs or corporations) for each type of business you operate, or for each piece of real estate that you own, a Series LLC may be useful to you. Nearly a decade ago, the state of Delaware introduced a legal entity that would become known as the Series LLC. Despite its origins in Delaware, several other states have now started to permit the usage of Series LLCs.  Read more

How to form a Single Member LLC in New York State

Business Entity Formation, Choice of Entity, LLCs, Startup Formation, Tax

There are a lot of small businesses out there operating as sole proprietorships, that is they operate the business through the individual(s), and there is no formal entity.  Many sole proprietors tell me that they’ve filed a d/b/a with the local county (here, the counties of Onondaga, Tompkins or Monroe), and therefore believe that is all they need to ensure that they are not personally liable, but this is not correct.

The main reason people incorporate or organize LLCs is to limit liability.  Debts and contractual obligations are not something that you want to owe personally if you can avoid it.  Setting up an LLC will create a seperate legal entity from yourself that you will operate the business through, own business assets, and contract through.  Not much has to change when you form a single member LLC.  LLC’s are also useful because the IRS will let you choose how you want the LLC taxed (either as a disregarded entity, S corp or C corp).

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