Posts by casualstag4

Gary Kim3 said:For anyone else out there dealing with the same headache of needing to close out a P&G account—honestly, just mention it right there in the notes section. I found that if you specifically request the closure of the P&G within your remarks, they usually have it all squared away by the very next day.

It's a shame they didn't just make that an actual button/option.

George Harris said:Can I download a confirmation of my tax-free income directly from the IRS website?

Or is that something only my employer can provide?

When you download your income statement from the IRS portal, there's a breakdown at the bottom listing all your tax-exempt payments. I don't think there's a specific standalone certificate for that, unless I'm totally missing something.

Gary Kim3 said:I’m getting the runaround at the IRS, honestly. They’re telling me my son has to officially close out his own tax filing status first before they'll even consider letting me claim him as a dependent.

Well, if that's the case, you'll just have to deal with the IRS.

You’re better off paying someone else to handle your books. As soon as you start trying to figure out what needs to be done, you're just going to screw something up.

Roger Booth86 said:Can a sole proprietorship be registered at the owner's home address (like an apartment owned by a spouse), while the actual work happens in a rented commercial space? I mean, would that cause any headaches if an inspector shows up and sees no sign of the business at the official headquarters? Since there aren't any specific MTU requirements, maybe it wouldn't be an issue, I guess.

In that scenario, just register the business at your partner's address and then register the rented space as a separate branch location.

You can just walk into the IRS office with your ID and file the JOPPD form for free.

redridge35 said:Actually, you really do need to register your small business with both Social Security and Medicare by filling out the necessary paperwork and dropping it off at the Social Security Administration and Medicare offices.

Medicare just pulls it automatically from Social Security, so there's no need to report your business to them separately.

Bryan James4 said:It feels a little bit contradictory to me, though... I mean, from what I'm reading, a small business owner is personally liable for all their debts with their own assets, right?

Just because they don't have anything to lose right now doesn't mean they won't have something later. Plus, you can just let that debt sit there and "simmer" until they actually acquire enough assets to make it worth the creditors' while.

Bryan James4 said:Can I actually start my own small business if I don't personally own any assets right now?

Yeah, you can.

Just pick a wholesale company on the digital registry, click into their profile, head over to market comparisons, and filter by industry within the US. It’ll spit out a full list of every entity operating in that sector here.

Anthony Rivera69 said:Perhaps the sheer volume of people involved is simply a consequence of our advancing years...

Their website claims the first year covers the base plan plus the B list $23, while the second year is $33. Plus, if you sign up online, you get a 10% discount, which brings it down to $30. So yeah, that seems pretty much the deal.

Supplemental insurance policies usually include a clause stating the contract automatically renews once it expires, even if you haven't signed anything new. It stays active until one of the parties actually requests a cancellation. You didn't ask to terminate yours, and neither did they.

Patrick Reed75 said:Hi there. This might be a bit off-topic, so I apologize if I'm in the wrong place. I've been trying to set up an LLC through Starbucks, but I'm hitting a wall because I can't make the initial payment of $1.75. Apparently, they won't accept a guarantee that the remaining balance will be paid later. Has anyone else run into this issue before?

Thanks.

You’re going to have to head down to the bank. Tell them you're putting in $1667, and have them draw up a promissory note for the remaining balance. You attach that note to your filing with the Secretary of State. Without that signed note, you aren't getting things done the way you planned.

rustycyclist5 said:What happens when a company essentially functions by outsourcing everything? My partner and I are looking into launching a web portal together, though we both intend to keep our current full-time jobs elsewhere.

If we handle all the billing ourselves—covering things like content creation and web development—but actually hire freelancers or students on short-term contracts to execute the work, is it legally viable to operate without a formal director? Would it suffice to have a proxy or an authorized signatory who doesn't draw a salary to sign those various vendor agreements?

The reality is that virtually all the labor, both now and moving forward, will be handled by students and independent contractors under service agreements.

You need a director. Period. Without one, the company doesn't legally exist in any meaningful way. Since you're planning on using students for everything, you could technically be "unemployed" directors. The IRS won't bother you, though it might be smart to find someone and report them for just one hour of work just to keep things airtight.

Nathan Rogers32 said:As I’ve already mentioned to everyone—since our current employers are all paying into Social Security—does that mean once we start paying into it through a new firm, the old one is off the hook? Or are both companies required to keep contributing...

Look, I’ll say it again: just because another company is handling your payroll taxes doesn't mean you get a free pass to stop paying them at your own firm. If you haven't grasped this yet, both the company you work for and your own business are on the hook. You could technically be the CEO and skip the taxes, but then you won't be "working" there in the eyes of the IRS, and they'll come after you for it.

Nathan Rogers32 said:Thanks for the answers, casualstag4!

Could I get some clarification on this part:

Does that mean our company would need to pay at least one of us a partial wage and cover the payroll taxes? If we all already have full-time jobs where our current employers handle all our taxes, why on earth would we need to pay any contributions for this new venture?

Because you can't legally work for a company without paying taxes. If you're just acting as an unemployed director, sure, you can represent the company to government agencies or business partners, but you can't actually perform labor or deliver goods/services to clients. If you do, the IRS views that as "under-the-table" employment where no taxes are being paid—and believe me, the IRS hates that and will crush you for it.

To sidestep this, people usually just register for one hour a week at these types of companies so the IRS stays off their backs, which is what I'd suggest to you. It's enough if just one person among your group registers as an employee; then you're covered.

Just a bit of friendly advice: if you can, set up your LLC through the Starbucks system. It’s about four times cheaper than hiring a notary, and way faster too. You can knock out all those government filings in under an hour. If you decide to go the notary route instead, you’re looking at at least two weeks just to get everything squared away, assuming nothing goes wrong.

Nathan Rogers32 said:Greetings.

A few of us are considering launching a firm to tackle weekend projects—primarily web development—and I’ve hit a wall trying to find answers to a couple of specific questions online:

1. Is it possible to set up an LLC and essentially forgo drawing a salary during that first year—or some variation of that—until we’ve built up enough capital to secure a proper office space and perhaps hire someone to help execute our ideas?

2. Can we continue with our current day jobs? Essentially, how would spinning up this business affect our existing employment status?

Thanks for reading.

1. It’s a "yes and no" situation. If you're currently employed and making at least $1989 the standard threshold, you can act as directors of a company without being required to draw a specific salary or pay certain payroll taxes. If you're making less than that, the smartest move is to appoint one person who meets that salary requirement as the director, while the rest of you serve as officers. That way, you avoid the rule where if an officer's pay is lower than the director's minimum, they have to bridge that gap with extra tax contributions. You need at least one director because, legally speaking, a company can't function without one.

If you start this thing and everyone is technically unemployed, you need to be careful. At least one person needs to be registered for at least one hour of work per week. The IRS recognizes companies with unemployed directors, but they get twitchy when they see "unemployed" directors performing full-time labor for the company without paying the necessary taxes. If an audit catches you doing regular work without paying into the system, they'll hit you with retroactive tax bills. And trust me, they do that all the time.

2. Not really. Starting a business doesn't change your legal standing with your current employer if you're already employed elsewhere.

Betty King7 said:We used the quick registration feature on Medicare Online. Once a company registers for Social Security, does the enrollment with Medicare happen automatically? And once that's settled, can we then send Medicare our access list along with the Social Security filing and all the other supporting paperwork to secure access to the digital health portal?

From what I understand, Medicare and Social Security have been swapping data for the last six years. But looking at their website, all they really need is their access list, so you should be able to get onto the electronic health portal

Edward Stewart said:Thanks for getting back to me. That part seems like the easiest bit of this whole puzzle, yet I am struggling to find a definitive answer regarding whether I still actually need my IRS certificate—specifically, if my access to the IRS portal via my US government ID or e-filing remains contingent upon it.
It would seem perfectly logical that since my Social Security number remains the same and I don't have any employees on payroll, the requirement would simply vanish. To borrow a sentiment from Louis XIV, "the business is me." 🙂.

No, you can access the IRS Online portal via e-Verify without the certificate.

Edward Stewart said:My recent IRS certificate (which was stored on a flash drive) finally expired, so I went ahead and renewed it. However, for the last five or six months now, I’ve just been using my electronic ID to log into the IRS portal via the federal authentication system. This leads me to wonder: is there actually any reason to keep paying the IRS? (I expect to receive my 2021 tax bill sometime this coming January.)
Beyond the fact that their hardware is absolute junk—honestly, the drive is so finicky that it fails if you even look at it wrong, and I often have to unplug and replug it just to get it to register—the cost is also quite bothersome.
For instance, back before we had to deal with W-2 filings, I was only required to mail in quarterly sales tax calculations, one annual report, and some paperwork for HHS. That amounted to maybe six total envelopes sent by mail, costing about $50. But then this "digital revolution" happened, and instead of making things cheaper, it somehow managed to hike the costs up to $162, which is essentially a 🙂 tenfold increase over what I used to pay.

If you aren't planning on using that certificate anymore, make sure to cancel it with the IRS.