Summer is wedding season. If you are getting married this summer, remember to give some attention to your 2010 tax filing status.
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The tax code provides a variety of tax incentives for families who are saving for, or already paying, higher education costs or are repaying student loans. Here's how to take advantage of those benefits.
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Sometimes we need to talk here about costly taxpayer mistakes that could have been avoided with professional consultation. Take the recent case of a securities firm owner doing business as an S corporation. An S corporation's income is directly taxable to its owners, and its losses pass through to owners for deduction on their tax returns. S corporations are like partnerships in this respect, and the problem we'll describe arises with partnerships, too.
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When it comes to financial planning, the best advice is to review, plan ahead, and verify your results. Here are a few suggestions that will help you along the Financial Planning path.
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It's vital, these days, to make sure you're getting the most out of on-premises sales staff. If goals are being met and revenue is where you want it to be, you may not need to use any measuring devices. We've come up with a metric to better judge how effective your sales team is.
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A client came to me with a classic trademark problem. She had looked at the PTO web site and had not found a mark identical to hers so she filed the application. But the Examining Attorney rejected it because he thought it was “merely descriptive” of the goods. She asked me what I thought and what it would cost to challenge it.
I took a deep breath and suggested that she save the money because the Examining Attorney was right and the likelihood of overturning the decision was remote. Here’s why:
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Out of all the types of retirement plans available to small business owners, the SIMPLE plan is the easiest to setup and least expensive to manage.
These plans are intended to encourage small business employers to offer retirement coverage to their employees. SIMPLE plans work well for small business owners who don't want to spend time and high administration fees associated with more complex retirement plans.
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A trust, like a corporation, is an entity that exists only on paper but is legally capable of owning property. A flesh and blood person, however, must actually be in charge of the property; that person is called the trustee. You can be the trustee of your own living trust, keeping full control over all property legally owned by the trust.
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Clients ask me this question regularly. Sometimes it is for an application they filed themselves. Other times it is for an application that I filed for them (which can be somewhat embarrassing to explain.) The general answer is the subject this week’s blog.
A trademark application must clear two hurdles at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. First it must be approved by an attorney in the Trademark Office (called an “Examining Attorney”). If it clears that hurdle it must survive the thirty-day publication and opposition period without being opposed by someone. (And if it is opposed the Applicant must win or settle that proceeding).
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Whether it is sewing, woodworking, fishing, gardening, stamp or coin collecting, millions of Americans participate in hobbies that may result in a profit. What are the tax implications of a hobby? When does a hobby become a business and how does that change the tax implications?
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