Dba, Llc, Inc

[GOTLAWN]

Great board thanks for the help on my other questions...

Moving forward, I've been reading about the above and can't make a decision. Which one should I go with. I mean, if I have a Mil for liability and 25-50k for equipment, I should be protected right?

What are the real pros/cons of each.

Thanks for the time and help

[Total.Lawn.Care]

LLC & Inc allow you to seperate your business from your personal affairs 100% (in theory). This means that if something happens (accident, bad debt, etc.) any judgement against you cannot go any farther than the business. Your personal house, finances and vehicles would not be affected.

Depending on how your business is set-up will determine if you want to do an LLC or Inc, but I encourage at least one of the two. LLC is easier and simpler. Inc (in the form of an S-corp) would also fit most small business models, but there is a little more involved and more requirements to conform to, however, nothing that you cannot learn and take care of.

[Jake Wolf]

Look at your assets. Inc provides the most protection and is easiest to sell down the road.

[mattfromNY]

Not to hijack your thread, but, My wife and I have been talking about doing the S-Corp., then putting the business in her name, so I can collect unemployment in the winter. A couple people I've talked to have done this. I'd be interested to hear opinions, good or bad, on this, or if anyone else has done this.

[Total.Lawn.Care]

Not to hijack your thread, but, My wife and I have been talking about doing the S-Corp., then putting the business in her name, so I can collect unemployment in the winter. A couple people I've talked to have done this. I'd be interested to hear opinions, good or bad, on this, or if anyone else has done this.

I think this cheats the system. You own the company, you run the company. Find a way to either make money during the winter, or to make enough money that you can support yourself through the winter. If you use the government as a crutch, then you are not 100% legit and will not earn my respect.

If this offends, then oh well. I am working a full time job while trying to build my business, and trying to diversify my serivces to have income all year long. You should do the same.

[terrapro]

Not to hijack your thread, but, My wife and I have been talking about doing the S-Corp., then putting the business in her name, so I can collect unemployment in the winter. A couple people I've talked to have done this. I'd be interested to hear opinions, good or bad, on this, or if anyone else has done this.

lol....from what i understand with an s-corp even though you "own" and run the business you are considered an employee but you have the ability to opt out of paying unemployment on yourself. so just fill out the UIA forms and start paying on yourself then collect in the winter. i dont see any reason to give your business to your wife:dizzy:

[Total.Lawn.Care]

lol....from what i understand with an s-corp even though you "own" and run the business you are considered an employee but you have the ability to opt out of paying unemployment on yourself. so just fill out the UIA forms and start paying on yourself then collect in the winter. i dont see any reason to give your business to your wife:dizzy:

You might be an employee of the company, but you are also a Corporate Officer. I am not sure that a company officer can claim unemployement during a comapnies off-season.

On another note, I cannot beleive that you are encouraging him to crutch on the government and take welfare money that yours and my taxes help support.

[Eakern & Dog]

lol....from what i understand with an s-corp even though you "own" and run the business you are considered an employee but you have the ability to opt out of paying unemployment on yourself. so just fill out the UIA forms and start paying on yourself then collect in the winter. i dont see any reason to give your business to your wife


I'm no investment or financial wiz, but would'nt it be just a beneficial to him to just set the money aside that he would normally pay the government for unemployment insurance and invest in some kind of account that he can draw from during the down months ? Does anyone here know what the unemployment's insurance rate a corp pays out to the government for employees ?

[mattfromNY]

I dont take offense to anyones comments. I am not a welfare collector. In fact I just mailed out $16000 bills for February snow plowing. I am not looking for a crutch, it was a question stemming from a diner conversation with several other area contractors, some of them in business 20 + years. A couple of them are doing just what I asked about, and I wanted to see if anyone on here had experienced any pros or cons with it. I dont see it as cheating anyone as long as we are paying unemployment all year long (as we would have to), I already carry all the insurance (Commercial on all equipment, 2 mil. liability and workers comp. on myself). I am not looking for handouts, just trying to be as efficient as I can in the long term.
As far as giving the bus. to my wife, that doesnt excite me one bit, it was just mentioned to me from a payroll service (paychex), as a way to go about this whole plan if we chose this route.
Thanks
Matt

[terrapro]

You might be an employee of the company, but you are also a Corporate Officer. I am not sure that a company officer can claim unemployement during a comapnies off-season.

On another note, I cannot beleive that you are encouraging him to crutch on the government and take welfare money that yours and my taxes help support.

yes you can collect, i have in the past during hard times with no problem. i am not encouraging him im just informing. i do not agree on collecting unemployment when you are perfectly capable of making money. i have learned that there is lots of work out there you just need to diversify. to each thier own

[stumpslawncare]

Not to hijack your thread, but, My wife and I have been talking about doing the S-Corp., then putting the business in her name, so I can collect unemployment in the winter. A couple people I've talked to have done this. I'd be interested to hear opinions, good or bad, on this, or if anyone else has done this.

I use to work for a lco that was inc. and would lay himself off during the winter, as long as he had a start back date he did not have to look for another job and was able to collect unemployment.

[NELawnCare]

Great board thanks for the help on my other questions...

Moving forward, I've been reading about the above and can't make a decision. Which one should I go with. I mean, if I have a Mil for liability and 25-50k for equipment, I should be protected right?

What are the real pros/cons of each.

Thanks for the time and help

Hi folks, I'm new too but thought I'd chime in since I recently did both.

I too have just established my Lawn Care business. I decided on becoming an LLC simply to separate my assets from my personal home/property.

I have a separate DBA/Sole Proprietor computer consulting business to get me through the winter months (although I do offer snow plowing with my lawn care too).

DBA/Sole Proprietor is nice, since you simply combine your revenue with your normal annual taxes. It can help reduce your normal annual income taxes. It's very very simple using Turbo Tax Home and Small Business. It guided me right through my income and DBA tax return and I ended up with enough deductions and computer equipment depreciations to prevent paying any taxes on my consulting business profits. I also reduced my normal federal income taxes enough to get a $500 refund. As a DBA in Wisconsin, I was required to obtain a sellers permit and I must charge a state and county sales tax on most of my services.

My lawn care business will be another story. As an LLC, you will register articles of incorporation with the state. You will also need to obtain a sellers permit (in some states) and charge state and/or county sales tax if your state taxes lawn care/landscaping services. With an LLC, your taxes will most likely be due on the anniversary of your LLC establishment. Altough, the state could require you to pay your taxes quarterly or semi-annually based on projected revenue.

Hope this helps.

[PatriotLandscape]

We are an s-corp and part of the reason we did it was to have the cushion if needed to take the unemployment.

As for the person saying don;t pay it I know in Mass if you are an employee, which all officers must be salaried, you must pay for it regardless if you use it.

[Ecoscape01]

You might be an employee of the company, but you are also a Corporate Officer. I am not sure that a company officer can claim unemployement during a comapnies off-season.

On another note, I cannot beleive that you are encouraging him to crutch on the government and take welfare money that yours and my taxes help support.

Im in class right now, my Business professor owns an S-Corp and he does not believe that as an officer, you can collect unemployment on a seasonal basis but perhaps if the company declares bankrupcy then you may. That would explain why you can elect to pay UE on yourself as an officer. Hope that helps:)

[terrapro]

Im in class right now, my Business professor owns an S-Corp and he does not believe that as an officer, you can collect unemployment on a seasonal basis but perhaps if the company declares bankrupcy then you may. That would explain why you can elect to pay UE on yourself as an officer. Hope that helps:) if you pay in you can take out. im currently picking through the IRS website and here is a quote directly from the site, link is at the bottom......

"The Internal Revenue Code establishes that a corporate officer is an employee of the corporation for federal employment tax purposes. Code sections 3121(d)(1), 3306(i), and 3401(c) specifically define officers of corporations as employees for FICA (Social Security and Medicare), FUTA (Unemployment), and federal income tax withholding purposes."

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=112602,00.html