20/01: Launching this LLC
To start off I have to admit to being a complete business neophyte. Previously I found myself in a role that had stopped making sense and completely overstressed about basically nothing, so I resigned and took a two month break to reinvent myself, during which time a good 3 or 4 opportunities arose. All of these involve doing fun things with people I like, so rather than choose just one, I decided to do all of them. Three in the US and one in the UK.
I knew I wanted to incorporate for the protection a company gets for its members. Unsurprisingly, I took a lot of advice, in fact I never got the same advice twice. I ended up with a single member LLC - standing for limited liability company. The LLC acts as an entity in providing services, billing, being paid and so on. If there is suing, it gets sued, not its members. It can go bust on its own without doing the same to its members. But as the LLC is single member, its money is my money and it ends up on my tax return without me having to do a separate corporate return. This seems simpler than having a corporation where it needs employees and has to deal with payroll and social security and so on. The downside is that I am now apparently more at risk of a tax audit, which will basically be an audit of my expenses. Hopefully I can cope with that.
There was not that much involved in doing it. I simply told an accountant what I needed and paid the bill. There was a setup fee, and a fee for an advertisement to prove that the company is real and announce its formation. After that, a trip to the bank to get a bank account. Now all I have to do is give the company's tax id, rather than my personal one when on "business", and remember to use the right bank accounts and cards for the right things.
I plan to run the accounting properly, using GnuCash. We'll see how that goes.
We'll see how it all goes.
I knew I wanted to incorporate for the protection a company gets for its members. Unsurprisingly, I took a lot of advice, in fact I never got the same advice twice. I ended up with a single member LLC - standing for limited liability company. The LLC acts as an entity in providing services, billing, being paid and so on. If there is suing, it gets sued, not its members. It can go bust on its own without doing the same to its members. But as the LLC is single member, its money is my money and it ends up on my tax return without me having to do a separate corporate return. This seems simpler than having a corporation where it needs employees and has to deal with payroll and social security and so on. The downside is that I am now apparently more at risk of a tax audit, which will basically be an audit of my expenses. Hopefully I can cope with that.
There was not that much involved in doing it. I simply told an accountant what I needed and paid the bill. There was a setup fee, and a fee for an advertisement to prove that the company is real and announce its formation. After that, a trip to the bank to get a bank account. Now all I have to do is give the company's tax id, rather than my personal one when on "business", and remember to use the right bank accounts and cards for the right things.
I plan to run the accounting properly, using GnuCash. We'll see how that goes.
We'll see how it all goes.
I had the delightful task of reviewing some work done in the house my mother grew up in. She owns the house and rents it out - the income is basically her pension. After almost 10 years, it needed some repairs, so she paid for a new damp course, roof repair, and some decoration. I went around there to check the work. It was dismal and needs redoing.
Does that really look like a job well done? There are a half dozen equally crap items in the house. And they've been back to fix it, allegedly. When I find the name of the contractor, I will post it.
Next article: Ditto for american contractors.
Does that really look like a job well done? There are a half dozen equally crap items in the house. And they've been back to fix it, allegedly. When I find the name of the contractor, I will post it.
Next article: Ditto for american contractors.
