Do you run an overseas business? Thinking of expanding and selling into the U.S. market?
Because U.S. residency or citizenship is not required, non-U.S. citizens can readily sell into the U.S. However, many overseas business owners aren’t clear on whether they are required to incorporate in the U.S. and the associated tax implications.
Here’s what you need to know:
Essentially, if your intent is to sell goods into the U.S.—whether online or through U.S. partners such as a wholesaler—you may not have to file for incorporation in the U.S. However, if you plan to have a physical presence in the U.S. (such as an office or employees), then incorporation, whether as a corporation or limited liability corporation (LLC), is worth considering. Likewise, for online businesses in particular, remember that many U.S. consumers feel more confident buying from a registered U.S. business, so that’s another important factor to weigh.
More from SBA HERE.
21 Şubat 2013 Perşembe
Should Foreign Businesses Incorporate in the US?
Claiming Hurricane Sandy personal property loss deductions
When filing your federal income tax return, you may deduct personal property losses that aren't covered by insurance or other reimbursements. Claim the losses as an itemized deduction using federal Form 4684, Casualty and Theft...
Claiming the loss on an amended return for the prior year may result in an earlier refund, but waiting to claim the loss on the return for the year the loss occurred could result in greater tax savings, depending on other income factors.
New York State follows the federal rules for casualty losses. As a resident taxpayer, you may claim the loss on your New York personal income tax return as an itemized deduction. You must use the same year you chose to claim the loss on your federal return.
More here.
2012 Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories
Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories supply data on small businesses in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The publication also provides national-level data and limited data on the U.S. territories.
What do the profiles say about small business health? Despite continuing challenges, the profiles show that the U.S. economy was relatively strong in 2011. At the national level, the unemployment rate was down 0.7 percent between 2010 and 2011, and 48 states reported a decrease as well. Of these states, 10 had rates equal to the national level.
The usefulness of the profiles is the great detail it provides about small businesses at the state level. Small business borrowing activity, as well as self-employment by various demographics, are presented. Also covered are the number of firms, small business income, banking, business turnover, industry composition, and employment gains and losses by size of business.
Each profile is available in Adobe PDF format, and an Excel spreadsheet containing all of the profile data is also available. For further information contact Victoria Williams, Economist, at (202) 205-6533 or advocacy@sba.gov.
More On Limited Liability Companies' Fiduciary Duty
"In Fairness and Good Faith as a Precept in the Law of Corporations and Other Business Organizations, 36 Loy.U.Chi. L.J. 551 (2005), Murdock addresses the fiduciary duty of good faith and fairness that controlling interests of a business owe to minority interests. Noting that this internal duty is a fairly recent legal phenomenon, he surveys caselaw on the subject from around the country that applies to closely held corporations, public corporations and LLCs. Noting that the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act (ULLCA), a model law adopted by several states, doesn't include language that gives members of an LLC fiduciary duties to one another, he praises Illinois for modifying that language to protect members in the updated Limited Liability Company Act."
Create a 2013 Email Marketing Plan
If you’re like most small business owners, email marketing is just one part of what you’re doing while running your business. By creating a plan now, you can make your life easier when trying to juggle everything that come along with running your business—filling orders, waiting on customers, and the million other things that demand your attention.
Think about your approach to email marketing. When you sit down to create an email, are you as prepared as you’d like to be? Do have a clear understanding of what you’re looking to achieve, how you’re going to achieve it, and how you’re going to measure your results?
Or are you—like a lot of small businesses—doing most the work last minute? Planning, brainstorming, designing, writing, creating, and sending emails at a single sitting without much preparation?
Having a plan can help you stay better organized throughout the year, while also helping you make better decisions about the type of content you create. Create a plan so you’ll have a resource to refer back to each month and improve the likelihood you’ll follow through. All it takes just a few easy steps:
Choose a goal
Start by understanding what it is you hope to achieve from your email marketing. Do you want people to shop online, come into the store, and share a sale with friends via Facebook or Twitter? There are a number of factors you’ll need to consider.
Start broad, why did you start using email marketing in the first place?
Then you can look at months individually—what will be your top priority in February? What is your biggest challenge in March? Start with your goal and let that guide your email marketing decisions.
Determine frequency
Once you’ve figured out what you hope to achieve, then you’ll be able to choose a frequency that’s right for your business.
How often should you be sending emails to your customers?
Once a monthis a good starting place, but pick a frequency you know you can stick to. If you decide to do more than you can handle, your plan won’t do you any good.
Pick a date
Figuring out when you’ll send an email each month sets expectations for yourself and your customers. It will also help you avoid missing any emails, which can often happen during busy times of the year. A great way to pick the right date for your email marketing is to look at your reports from past emails. Identify which days of the month had the most opens and which days had the most engagement from readers.
Put it together
While it may seem like a lot to consider, most of what will go into creating your email marketing plan is stuff you’re already thinking about each and every day. If it helps, you can start small. Plan out your next three emails and see if having a plan makes things easier. You’ll find yourself better prepared and with more time to spend doing what you enjoy most—running your business.
Gina Watkins is a leading expert on e-marketing for small business – and has a real passion for helping businesses to succeed. Her ongoing series of dynamic lectures are filled with real-world examples, humor and results-driven wisdom garnered from more than two decades of sales, business development and marketing experience. In addition to owning her own business, she is an award-winning direct marketer, has been featured on WUSA Channel 9's Mind Over Money show, Dr. Gayle Carson’s Women In Business radio show, Morgan State’s Briefcase Radio program, and in numerous other media. In her role as Constant Contact Regional Development Director, she’s presented to more than ten thousand seminar attendees about the keys to success with easy, affordable, highly effective technology tools that grow trusted business relationships.
20 Şubat 2013 Çarşamba
U.S. Manufacturing in International Perspective
From HERE:
• The United States remained the largest manufacturing country in 2010, although its share of global manufacturing activity has declined in recent years.
• Manufacturing output has grown more rapidly in the United States over the past decade than in most European countries and Japan, although it has lagged China, Korea, and other countries in Asia.
• Employment in manufacturing has fallen in most major manufacturing countries over the past two decades. The United States saw a disproportionately large drop between 2000 and 2010, but its decline in manufacturing employment since 1990
is in line with the changes in several European countries and Japan.
• U.S. manufacturers spend far more on research and development (R&D) than those in any other country, but manufacturers’ R&D spending is rising more rapidly in China, Korea, Mexico, and Taiwan.
• A large share of manufacturing R&D in the United States takes place in high technology sectors, particularly pharmaceutical and electronic instrument manufacturing, whereas in other countries a far greater proportion of
manufacturers’ R&D outlays occur in medium-technology sectors such as motor vehicle and machinery manufacturing
Fear of Poverty - Series
Poverty clearly ties to Wealth. People always have and always will want more than they currently have. Keep up with the Joneses is pervasive; this fear is also tied closely to ego and feelings of inferiority.
Humans by nature are creatures of habit. Those habits can be changed and manipulated as we have been finding out. One of the worst habits to fall into is the habit of trying to keep up with everyone else. The other factor is that most people are trained and raised to be mediocre. They aren’t pushed, they haven’t formed good habits, and therefore they get scared when confronted with something outside the norm. Being poor is one of those areas.
Here’s the downside to this fear. Politicians love it! On both sides of the aisle, they love it because they can use it to play the rich against the poor and define a “middle class” that includes the majority of people. The Right uses the poor as examples of what not to do and the rich as examples of doing it right. The left uses the rich as examples of what not to do and the poor as pawns and victims. Neither side is doing people a favor.
The bottom line is there will always be poor people, people getting by and making a living (the middle class), and the uber-rich or the 1% that understand the concepts in this book. My goal with this book is to help as many people as possible understand the 1% mentality and be more successful. The wonderful thing about America and our capitalist system is that even though there are levels of income and wealth/poverty, people are not static. Nothing is guaranteed and nothing is barred. People are free to move up and down the scale at their own will – they can get lazy and lose everything, or they can work hard, become educated, risk their own money, and move up from poverty to wealth. It is not a zero sum game; there is not one pie and when it’s gone it’s gone. No; there is always more pie.
It’s that simple.
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