If your Maine-based small business doesn’t provide health insurance, or if you do provide coverage but your employees are faced with increasing deductibles, co-pays or out-of-pocket expenses, it’s the perfect time to take a look at flexible spending accounts (FSAs). A form of cafeteria plan under Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code, a health care FSA allows  Continue Reading »

If your Maine-based small business is essentially a one-person operation, there’s an option to help you save more money for retirement: The Solo 401(k) plan. Ordinarily, traditional defined contribution retirement plans allow annual contributions that are limited to either 25 percent of salary if you’re employed by your own S or C corporation or 20  Continue Reading »

If you are thinking about converting your C-corporation into an S-corporation, you must plan ahead to avoid owing a substantial tax on gains recognized for 10 years following the conversion. The built-in gains (BIG) tax rate is the highest corporate tax rate, currently at 39.6 percent. If your company is liable, the tax is paid  Continue Reading »

If you operate a business that collects payroll taxes from employees, always remember this: No matter what your corporate financial situation is, don’t borrow from the withholding tax fund. If that money isn’t there when it’s due, the IRS will crack down hard. All small businesses face downturns when cash flow dries up. Borrowing from  Continue Reading »

It used to be that small business owners believed that all they had to do was serve their customers effectively and make sure that their stock maintained or increased its value. It’s now more usual, however, that business owners also must be concerned with their stakeholders. What are stakeholders? They include shareholders, of course, but  Continue Reading »

Whether you’re setting up a new company in the Greater Portland area, or you’ve been in business for years, you need to evaluate which legal structure is best for your enterprise. No one option is best for every type of operation. The number of owners, taxes, and your business goals are all important factors to  Continue Reading »

Setting up and maintaining a SEP for your Maine-based business is probably easier than you think. The sooner you get started saving, the more secure your retirement will be, plus your business can gain tax advantages right away.  SEP Basics The SEP is a stripped-down retirement plan mainly intended for self-employed individuals and small corporate employers. If  Continue Reading »

Wisniewski v. Walsh, 2013 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 724 (April 2, 2013) Children learn that bad behavior has consequences. An appellate court recently taught a similar lesson to a troublemaking shareholder whose doings forced a buyout. Three siblings each owned a one-third interest in a family business. They had a falling out, and one sued  Continue Reading »