In the past the IRS considered business cell phones as property such as a computer or a company car, that had to be used for business at least 50% of the time. Previously it was required that you kept records of your cellular phone usage in order to prove it was being used more than half the time for business. If your company gave out cellular phones to employees, they also had to keep records of the usage. Under the new tax law, cellular phones are now exempt from this. The new rule states that the cellular phones should only be used sporadically for personal use, but does not give an exact amount on how much that means.

There are several new tax benefits for new businesses that have just been announced. The benefits are good starting immediately.

Start up deduction: If you started a business this year you can deduct up to $10,000, previously the deduction was up to $5,000 for start up costs.

Expenses: Businesses can now deduct up to $500,000 off of expenses including computers, instead of the previous $200,000.

These two tax deductions are very good reasons for you to start your own business. If you're interested in doing so or have any questions on regarding starting an LLC or forming a corporation, please give us a call at 866-999-8200.

Sam's Club which is part of the Walmart group will soon be offering small business loans. We can help you file for a small business whether you'd like to form an LLC or form a corporation. Sam's Club already caters to many small business owners with their bargains on bulk items and now they will be offering small business loans from $5,000 to $25,000 through Superior Financial Group which is affiliated with the Small Business Administration. Sam's Club is offering the loans with a 7.5% APR and hopes that they can provide the loans when many other banks are denying small businesses the loans they need to survive. The loans will have a 10 year repayment plan and there is no penalty for paying off the loan early.

JP Morgan, the nations second-largest bank has announced that they will be reducing interest rates for small business lines of credit by a half a percent for every new employee hired. It's good to see not only small businesses but also big businesses helping small businesses in this economy. The perk for the employee hiring encouragement program does cap off at 3 employees, or 1.5 percent though that might be enough to have businesses thinking of hiring actually getting around to doing it. JP Morgan along with other banks have been lending more to small businesses as of late and have even been looking a previously rejected loan applications again to see if they can help out those small businesses. If you're have questions on small business or how to form an llc, or how to form a corporation online, we'd be glad to help you, give us a call at 866-999-8200.

An amendment to the recently passed House Act, HR 5297, Small Business Lending Fund, will require the act to provide information to small business owners in their native language. This is important because many minority-owned businesses are often overlooked when there are programs available to help, because they speak little to no English. In this day in age it's no question that our society is one big melting pot of different cultures and the language barrier often makes it hard for those non-native speakers to obtain the same benefits as native English speaking small business owners. If you look at the Los Angeles for example, a drive down Olympic Boulevard will have you going through areas where advertisements are only in Spanish while a little further down all the signs are in Korean. In San Francisco, visit Chinatown, and you'll find it hard to find any signs in English. The east coast is no different, New York is equally culturally rich, as well as many cities in-between like Chicago. Our nation is depending on small businesses to step up and make a change in this economy and this amendment most definitely will help us succeed in that. If you're interested in filing for an L.L.C. in New York, a corporation in California or even incorporating in Illinois, we can help file in any state, if you have any more questions please contact us at 866-999-8200.

The world's largest retailer are going to soon begin working along side American Public University, a for-profit school which will offer employees of the giant corporation with a chance to use their work experience towards credits at the school towards an associates or bachelor degree. Wal-Mart chose American Pubic University because the school exists online and the company surveyed 32,000 employees with the employees leaning towards online schooling because of the flexibility of when students could potentially complete courses. Wal-mart plans to spend up to $50 million with this program.

We've been notified that a lot of our clients in certain states are receiving mail requesting payment for services that are required by the state. Our policy is to never sell any of your information though some states do provide  your information to marketers.

California is one of the biggest states that has marketers targeting new business owners. The marketers will send out a document that looks very official requesting payment for the Statement of information. The statement of information in California only costs about $25 to file, while the solicitors ask for up to $100 over that fee. If you receive any suspicious documents be sure to read them thoroughly as the these companies are required to have "THIS IS NOT A GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT" on the document as well as the envelope, if you're still unsure, give the company a call and find out if they're just proving a service or if they are actually the state corporation office, they will tell you if they are an actual state office or just a company soliciting business.

Florida has also issued a statement on their website regarding the same kinds of solicitations in their state.

Because the documents look official many new business owners get tricked into paying these extra fees. If you have any questions about California LLC, California Corporations or any other state business filings, please give us a call at 866-999-8200. 

When starting a new business it's important to have a plan. Some people jump into business because they have a great product but don't really think of the business side of things. If you're not going to split your focus between your product or service it's important to bring someone in that you trust with business aspects.

Alot of people prefer to have their CPA take care of taxes and other loose ends when starting a business, and it's a wise move. If you're working by yourself, you want to stay in compliance, not only with the state, but the city and county as well.

Another way to get around having someone help you is to take a business class at a community college if you do not have any business experience, many colleges even offer weekend workshops focusing on business.

Once you've got all your basics out of the way, you should focus on marketing, any new business wants the world to know they exist, if you're starting a service or retail store, it's imporant to be found online, you should create a website or some kind of web presance, lots of small businesses only rely on websites like Yelp, which can be really helpful (or hurtful if your service isn't up to par). It's important to have a plan when it comes to your marketing strategies also, if you're in a metorpolitan area, it's not uncommon to see businesses handing out fliers or coupons to their store or restaurant, sure you might have to give a little to gain a client, but if your product or service is good, they'll come back.

There are lots of things to think about when starting a business, so organization is key, keep that in mind.

You can file for an LLC or Corporation in any state, there are certain reasons why people file in certain states, Nevada and Delaware have been widely popular for filing. We always advise you to consult with a CPA or an attorney before deciding what state to file in because your home state may have certain advantages that surpass the advantages of filing outside for your state. For example, California boasts many advantages for small businesses but is often overlooked because other states are more popular to file in. Every state has it's own advantages, especially if it's your home state. Whether you want to file an LLC or corporation from Hawaii to Maine, Incorporate Fast can help you file that with ease.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today laid down fraud charges to Goldman Sachs for fraud associated with the subprime lending disaster.  The SEC filed a civil lawsuit against Goldman Sachs for fraudulent activity associated with collateralized debt obligations.  As a result of these subprime loans, Goldman Sachs in essence created the bubble in the housing industry which later burst when people couldn't afford their loans when the economy went sour.  Goldmen denies any wrongdoing in the suit. In a statement released by Goldman Sachs, "The SEC's charges are completely unfounded in law and fact, and we will vigorously contest them and defend the firm and its reputation,", the company stated.

Goldman Sachs and Lehman Bros were the first of two biggest banking institutions that collapsed due to the banking crisis. Goldman Sachs was one of the recipients of the banking bailout funded by taxpayer money.  It has since emerged stronger than ever and is reporting healthy profits again.  However, shocked by the charges, shares of Goldman Sachs tumbled as much as 16% but recovered by the end of the day to be down only 11%.

Due to the banking crisis, President Obama has initiated steps to prevent such an envirnoment that could lead to another banking disaster.  President Obama issued a statement saying that he would veto any overhaul to financial regulations that doesn't include rules on the derivates market.