Hot answers tagged usa
16
I don't know what makes USA so receptive to startups, but as a Malaysian, I can tell you what will kill startup culture:
Corruption. The ones with the fund are not distributing it according to the merits of the idea but according to who-is-knowing-who.
Bureaucracy. Government can make the startup life a nightmare by asking them to filling in an excessive ...
10
Your question raises several legal issues:
As concerns whether laws allow a minor to start a business, the answer is "yes".
You mentioned operating the business at home. You need to check with your local government (probably city, possibly county) concerning whether your type of home business is permitted, and how much you will need to pay for a business ...
8
In my experience, the norm for 2010 would be:
Friday, January 1 - New Year’s Day
Monday, January 18 - Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Monday, February 15 - President's Day (this varies among companies)
Monday, May 31 - Memorial Day
Monday, July 5 - Independence Day
Monday, September 6 - Labor Day
Thursday, November 25 - Thanksgiving Day
Friday, ...
7
Unless your small business buys $27k insurance plans, has employees making more than $250k/yr, or does a lot of tanning, there will be no new taxes as a result of this bill. There are some penalties that kick in if you have more than 50 employees and don't offer insurance, but for the most part, small businesses will get tax credits and will have better ...
6
Generally it doesn't make sense to exercise vested options in a private company whilst you are still employed by the company. You would be spending money to exercise your options but without any guarantee that there will be any future liquidity. If for the sake of argument it would cost you $1000 to exercise your options now, it would still cost you $1000 ...
6
You can do it on-line at IRS.GOV (here's the direct link to the EIN page). If you don't want to apply on-line (and get the number instantly), you can instead fill and send the form SS-4 (and wait for the number for several weeks to arrive in the mail).
Make sure to read all the information and the instructions on the site to understand how to fill the form ...
5
There is a small business tax credit: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100321-704391.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
"Beginning in 2010, small employers
can elect a tax credit for 50% of
their employee health care coverage
expenses. Small employers are
generally defined as businesses with
no more than 25 employees."
Hard to say how much it ...
5
They keys to success of a startup nation are having a capitalist system where the local culture idolizes successful business people rather then consider them are greedy. In communist countries and in some European countries that were controlled for years by the catholic church this is not the case. Being capitalists leads to highly effective financial ...
5
I am curious to hear why do you think this would be unethical?
Based on what you described unless you have an agreement with the University that you will not hire their former students there is no ethical challenge from what I can see. The student is seeking employment. You have a position to fill, so shake hands get the monetary and benefits agreements ...
5
While I agree with most of Chris's answer, I have a slightly different perspective:
The reason for the change is precisely because NY law is neutral (neither A nor B), not to mention well-known and well-respected. As a result, the choice-of-law issue disappears - neither party wins, and neither loses on this negotiation point. In other words, the other ...
5
The 'TM' means that they are claiming common-law rights in the mark -- the idea is that people will so identify the word 'surface' with Microsoft that it would be unfair to allow anybody else to come out with a 'Surface' tablet.
Microsoft has probably already applied for a registered trademark on the name -- it just takes a few months for those to be ...
4
In addittion to what is mentioned above, I'd suggest a nice essay on the subject written by Paul Graham explaining some concepts that make it possible to startups to succeed in Silicon Valley. He outlines, and I do agree with most of them:
Smart people
People with money eager to invest
Low bureaucracy
Universities
Free Competition
I'd say that easy and ...
4
When I first started out I had only my personal bank account. There were no laws, at that time, requiring anything different. (I don't think there are any laws now, but it's your duty to check.)
However, after a few years the IRS decided to audit my business. Since I had only one bank account, and I got married that year with lots of gifts, it took an IRS ...
4
Get a separate bank account. It wont cost you anything and it will radically simplify accounting and make dealing with the IRS easier.
I'll add that making your sole proprietorship into an LLC and setting up the account for the LLC. The reason you want to do this is to protect your personal assets from things that go wrong with your business. Setting up ...
4
There are multiple visas that you can apply for. There is the L Visa, E5 or EB-5 Visa, and also E-2 (Treaty Investor) Visa for which being a UK citizen you may qualify. So I would suggest reviewing the requirements and possibly consulting with an Immigration Lawyer in the US to actually see what you will realistically need to do.
4
It sounds like they are treating you as an independent contractor and simply paying you a commission. If so you are running your own business and need to pay your federal, state and city income tax just like any other business. The fact that the firm paying you is in the Bahamas really makes no difference; you are in New York, not the Bahamas, and thus pay ...
4
Why do they do this? Two common reasons: (1) New York's contract law is very well-defined and understood, much like Delaware's corporations law. But, every states's contract laws are fairly well defined, so this isn't really a huge advantage. (2) They want to apply some sort of "neutral" law. (This (2) doesn't really make any sense -- you want neutral ...
4
Several links for you:
KPMG Paper on (US) State taxation of cloud services.
CBIZ article on the same (which is shorter, but essentially repeats
the same as KPMG).
Pennsylvania State tax authority ruling on this issue re the
servers in PA.
Bottom line is that your concern is valid, and there are definitely potential tax pitfalls in this model. You should ...
3
Free markets and the rule of law. Opinions differ on how fair or desirable unfettered capitalism is (defined as free markets and rule of law, not bailouts and such), but that environment will produce results in the fastest way possible. Speed to market does seem to be the dominant factor in the successful startup.
I think you will find that all startup ...
3
A viable small business needs to have a few things:
People with ideas
People with the skill and education to act on and execute those ideas
People with the motivation to act on those ideas
The infrastructure to execute the business idea
The funds to support the effort
A political system that is favorable enough for businesses to be able to start and grow
...
3
Neat idea, but if you are serious about this ask a tax accountant with cross-border taxation experience.
I think 3,5,6 are possible.
You'll unfortunately miss the capital gains advantages of being a Canadian Controlled Private Corporation (CCPC) (<50 shareholders, Canadian controlled) if you sell the company.
There's also a slot on the Revenue Canada ...
3
It has already passed.
It will clearly help small businesses, but not for 4 more years when all the provisions take effect. Have you ever tried to get health insurance for a small startup? If I have one or two employees it is currently virtually impossible to get group insurance. That means even if I'm willing to pay for the new employee's individual ...
3
Fyi, small businesses with fewer than 50 full time employees are exempt from requirements. See "SEC. 4980H. SHARED RESPONSIBILITY FOR EMPLOYERS REGARDING HEALTH COVERAGE." of the bill.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.3590:
Choose the last one on the list.
3
Hmmm...these are some interesting posts. I am certainly not an expert on the HC legislation that just passed or the HC debate in general (though I have read quite a bit of material on the subject).
I can speak as an expert on my individual situation. When I left my corporate job and tried to get health care I had very few reasonable options. Signing up as ...
3
I suggest you do the minimum needed:
agree how you will share the responsibilities and how you will be compensated (have this in writing)
figure out what you need to get the 1st piece of business (web site, marketing?)
when you get your first piece of business, then take the next steps
set up a business entity (plenty of resources out there with advice)
...
3
Can I just lump all income together (day job plus rents) and all deductions together (primary home plus LLC/rental property deductions), even if the rental deductions by themselves exceed rental property income?
The short answer is no.
The Longer Answer
First, to clarify a question @edralph brought up. In the US, expenses related to mortgage ...
3
Most of our clients out of the country pay by wire transfer.
Depending on their size they may or may not be familiar with this but it's not too bad of a process. They need some information about your bank, some routing numbers etc. and they can then wire money to you.
Depending on your invoice amounts, if they are lower and don't mind paying the ~2.5% - ...
3
Actually the situation with LLCs in the US can be more complex. How you are treated by the IRS will be a function of the elections you choose to make, and you will need to file forms to make those elections. To quote from Wikipedia:
An LLC with either single or multiple members may elect to be taxed as a corporation through the filing of IRS Form ...
3
My way:
Find a partner
Form a C-corp (not LLC, no S-corp)
Make your partner a president, accountant and whatever else required there.
You must be ONLY a shareholder, nothing else. You must NOT hold any position in the company and you can NOT get any salary
Do whatever you want after that: development, marketing, sales, just don't violate (4).
That's ...
3
It depends on what you mean by "sufficient." It's certainly legal. You might be liable for certain sales taxes in the United States or have to pay franchise fees with certain states, but those are more complicated tax questions that deserve a tax attorney's expertise.
As for payment gateways, PayPal is international-friendly, but the problem you might face ...
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