The word “free” is a very effective tool and can help Maine-based small businesses attract attention, bring customers to Web sites and boost volume. In fact, some experts say the word pulls in more business than any other term in advertising. However, small business owners cannot use the word any way they want. Federal and  Continue Reading »

Marcus v. Quattrocchi, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19041 (Feb. 4, 2014) In an estate and trust case featuring a major real estate family, the plaintiff beneficiaries retained two experts to prove damages resulting from the alleged improper depletion of trust assets by way of an investment company in which the defendants had a stake. In  Continue Reading »

Baby boomer business owners in the United States are looking to turn their years of sweat and toil into cash for retirement, but the faltering economy rapidly turned the seller’s market of a few years ago into a buyer’s market, negatively impacting value. Adding to their woes, the large number of baby boomers who own  Continue Reading »

As a Maine-based small business owner, it’s important to plan all year long to make the most of the tax law. Here are just five of the tax-smart decisions to make during the year that could, if handled properly, significantly reduce tax liability: Should vehicles, equipment, and buildings be purchased or leased? If a major business purchase  Continue Reading »

Does everyone in your Maine-based small business understand how to make money for your company? It’s easy for employees to view their jobs narrowly and forget that they may be able to contribute help out the bottom line. Ask everyone in your company to come up with a list of ways to meet the company’s  Continue Reading »

Credit sales are a fact of business life. An important skill that Maine-based small business owners develop is maintaining the balance between the total cost of bad debts and profit gains. As a small business owner, you need to constantly monitor your total receivables and bad debts. Part of the process involves weighing the benefits  Continue Reading »

Did you know there are certain tax breaks available to small businesses when they accommodate disabled individuals? This is a brief summation of three of those tax breaks: The disabled access credit A small business might be eligible for a nonrefundable credit when it has expenses for providing access to individuals with disabilities. The company can’t have more  Continue Reading »

Hardenbrook v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15830 (Feb. 7, 2014) In an involved retaliation suit against UPS, which the employee won, one of the flash points was the calculation of lost future benefits, specifically the question of what the applicable discount rate was to compute the present value of the company’s  Continue Reading »

Hill v. Hill, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 292 (Jan. 9, 2014) What happens to the commercial goodwill of a big accounting firm when a principal gets divorced? In a recent Texas appeals case, the wife accused the trial court of failing to account for commercial goodwill in valuing the subject interest by relying on a  Continue Reading »

Claiming a casualty loss for damage to personal property can be difficult, as the tax law limits any deductions in two ways: The first $100 of any casualty cannot be deducted. You can only write off casualty losses when the total amount in one year (minus the $100 per casualty amount) exceeds 10 percent of  Continue Reading »