Hot answers tagged expenses
7
Most startups have someone else think about it.
It's very common to host your application in an environment where adding additional servers is a 1 minute task, and can be done on an on-demand basis.
A small VPS, even with only 512MB of RAM is often enough for an application that is in testing. If you're not building something where performance is going to ...
4
are mobile phones a business write-off.
Yes, as long as you use it for business purposes. If you use the phone partly for business, and partly for personal use, then you can only deduct the business portion (but you already knew that). As an example, if you only use your cell for business 75% of the time, then you can only deduct 75% of your expenses ...
4
I think you are too heavy on your engineering staff, and too lite on your Sales & Marketing expense. Without customers you are dead in the water.
How do you attract & retain the Power Users in each city? If they are key to your sales and customer development, how are you accounting for their expense in your development plan (i.e.- whether you are ...
3
This is a very typical mistake that founders, usually technical founders make. I went through this myself, so I know how hard it is to realize and accept this, but its true:
It doesn't matter at all what hosting environment you prototype on!
At first I also took this very seriously, but in the end, guess what our first test server was: an ancient laptop ...
3
They get someone who knows what they are doing, and then they go do it.
They normally start with either a VPS (I hear a lot of people use Linode) or a VM that the developers run, and then when they go public, they generally look into moving to Rackspace or Amazon Web Services.
However, there are a lot of tools that can be be used to make it a lot simpler, ...
3
[1] - You don't really have 18 months of runway -- you have 18 months to launch your product. You plan should include what you will be doing for those 18 months and what milestones you will achieve. The runway comes in when you finish your milestones and need to raise more money.
[2] - I am sure you are but at least you have a detailed plan you can change. ...
2
Your salaries seem low. Where are you located?
Hiring great devs is hard. You may not need to, but I would PLAN on having to pay 50-100% more in salary for your key devs.
EDIT: Just saw this article. It is very relevant:
"It's a Good Time To Be A Developer" (CNET)
Will it really take 18 months to build this? Seems long unless there is a lot of deep ...
2
I am sure that there are many others that can discuss the details of patents, software expenses, time to launch. I would like to simply address the Sales/Marketing expenses associated with the 18 month budget.
These are my assumptions:
That financial projections for this investment round should bring the company to operating breakeven
Operating break ...
2
You're probably not going to get a software patent for $12,000, let alone having some left over for employee agreements. I spent $15,000 on a patent the last time I did it, and that was with me writing the specification by myself. It can go much higher.
As others have commented, I personally wouldn't get a patent unless your business model is licensing ...
2
You are much better off making the account a business account. Should any tax questions arise that alone should resolve the issue.
Whether talking about cell phones, auto depreciation or travel expenses the IRS rules are as clear as mud. Even the IRS doesn't understand the rules, though they won't tell you that. I had to reseach the issue a few years ...
2
If you're the only employee, then I'd look at how you're spending your time. If you have an even split, allocate 50% to both. If you're spending most of your time on one of the companies, possible a 70/30 split would be fair.
I've never dealt with this in the case of on one person working on two companies, however, when doing cost account between ...
2
Generally, something becomes an LLC expense when the LLC pays for it (see note below). This implies that you have an LLC bank account with funds.
However, the IRS does recognize "business startup costs", which are expenses that occur before the business is established.
From IRS Publication 535 Business Expenses, page 26:
Start-up costs are amounts ...
2
Is it considered a taxable fringe benefit for the employee?
Yes.
Does the company have to report the proportion of personal use on the
vehicle against the expense of the rental company as a taxable
wage/income?
Yes.
Don't forget to tip your server.
2
In Short, Yes.
However you should consult an accountant (which I am not), to tell you the specifics of how to do this in a legal manner. Some variables to consider are the country in which you operate and are taxed, and what method of accounting you use.
One possibility is repaying yourself for prior expenses once the company has formed, has a bank ...
1
Money back guarantee because of the quality of work of 3rd parties has to be at the expense of said 3rd parties.
You have to do your market research to know what's the rate of exercising your option. How can you ask that without telling what kind of service or product you're talking about?
But, if you have different providers, you can set different fees ...
1
Either use a cloud computer provider like AWS or a VPS like Linode.
It's crazy to buy and maintain equipment these days unless you have a specific reason to.
Also, I wouldn't use facebook and twitter as examples that mean anything to you, I am guessing your business is a lot different to theirs.
1
In general it's simply a matter of scaling at a reasonable rate. Typically when I have a client who has an ambitious project, we'll usually have a long private beta where we'll issue x licenses and then as the project progresses we issue more accounts until we have a public launch.
For prototyping, usually a VPS is an affordable alternative to a dedicated ...
1
I found the answer at http://www.bankrate.com/brm/itax/tax_adviser/20051207a1.asp:
A limited liability company is usually treated as a partnership for tax purposes. This seems to be your case, as you are receiving a Schedule K-1, which is an information form filed by the partnership or LLC to advise the partners or members of their distributive share of ...
1
If the incubator provides funding, then you are supposed to use the money for your operational and living expenses.
If there's no funding provided with the program, then you have to figure out how to make money.
All programs are different so check their conditions before applying.
1
How Indian Laws and taxation applies to European company representative traveling within and abroad?
Taxes like income tax etc will be regulated by the double tax avoidance agreement between the EU country and India. Without it, both countries' laws applies which is why these agreements exist in the first place.
Look at article 15 in the OECD standard agreement which covers emplyee relations. Look at the commentary published by the OECD.
The EU company is ...
1
You should include any expenses that you would reasonably expect a company to pay for. Office space might be necessary, since a team has to meet somewhere, but your home internet bill is less likely to pass. However, an internet connection in the office would be a legitimate expense.
Being frugal is not a bad thing - unless it undermines your ability to ...
1
The actual answer can only come from your operating agreement, which you should read. Don't have an operating agreement? Stop everything and go get one. You need some kind of written, signed document that clearly states what each party's rights and responsibilities are.
The norm would be that you split the profits, not the income. That means that the ...
1
Yes. Business expenses or activity in advance of becoming an LLC/Corporation are really just sole proprietor expenses. With this viewpoint you're asking about expenses incurred as a sole proprietorship prior to organizing as an LLC.
I'd recommend LLC or Corporation? by Attorney Anthony Mancuso (I just noticed it is 40% off until April 15th). While the book ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
