Small Business Accounting Services

1. Protect Your Personal Assets

Incorporating your business is one of the best ways you can protect your personal assets. A corporation can own property, carry on business, incur liabilities, and sue or be sued.

As a separate legal entity, a corporation is responsible for its own debts. That means creditors of a corporation generally can seek payment only from the assets of the corporation -- and not from the personal assets of shareholders, directors and officers. In effect, that means business owners can conduct business without risking their homes, cars, savings, or other personal property. Owners of a sole proprietorship or partnership, on the other hand, face unlimited liability for both business and personal assets.

2. Have Easier Access to Capital

Raising capital is generally easier for a corporation, since a corporation can issue shares of stock. This may make it easier for your business to grow and develop. If you’re in the market for a bank loan, that’s another reason to incorporate. In most cases, banks would rather lend money to corporations than to unincorporated business ventures. Corporations generally have access to more alternative sources of capital through which they can pay off their debts.

3. Enhance Your Business’ Credibility

The benefits of incorporating go beyond finances. Suppliers, customers and business associates often perceive corporations as being more stable than unincorporated businesses. In a sense, having “Inc.” or “Corp.” after your business name conveys permanence, credibility, and stability, and communicates your commitment to the ongoing success of your business venture. 

4. Perpetual Existence

Corporations are the most enduring legal business structure. A corporation can continue indefinitely, regardless of what happens to its individual directors, officers, managers, or shareholders. This means that by incorporating your business, you may be able to avoid the legal entanglements that could result with other business structures.

5. Gain Anonymity

A corporation can offer anonymity to its owners. If you want to open a small business and don’t want your involvement to be public knowledge, your best choice may be to incorporate. 

A business owner should not be running a business based on their bank statements... as so many do. There is so much information that is made readily available through monthly financial reports; income trends, tracking of expenses, principal owed on loans, interests paid, etc. This actionable information allows business owners to make the best business decisions on short notice. Allowing you to leverage your position to seize opportunities as they surface.

Additionally, the IRS and Departments of Revenue of individual States expect businesses to have accurate, reliable, and timely records produced. With accurate and timely bookkeeping small business owners protect themselves against audits, penalties, and fees from both the federal and local governments.

Having professionals work on your bookkeeping means having the peace-of-mind knowing that a job is being completed the correct way. We keep track of all deductible expenses, depreciations, amortizations, and trends - no stone is left unturned.

Last but not least, having your books up to date allows you to seamlessly prepare year-end corporate income taxes, maximize your tax deductions and credits, and maximize your financial and growth plans. Bookkeeping allows us to stay current on company revenues, expenses, and forecasted tax liabilities - this allows the business owner and his team of professionals to more precisely implement tax planning strategies.

As a business owner you are entitled to the distribution of profits of the company, equal to your percentage ownership, but may be limited by the operational agreements or bylaws.

If you are a business owner who also works his business day-in and day-out, the government may also consider you an "employee" of your own business. As an employee you are required to have just compensation for your services. This means that your company must pay you, the employee, a salary or hourly wages and withhold income taxes and employment taxes and issue forms such as a W-2 before January 31st of the year following the tax year. Thid W-2 salary is reportable on your individual income taxes (form 1040).

Since S-Corporations do not pay any self-employment taxes on their distributions of profits, it is imperative that S-Corporation shareholders who also act as employees pay themselves a salary in accordance with their position and obligations inside of the company.

Evading taxes is illegal. However avoiding excessive taxation is completely legal and encouraged by the government.

To evade means to hide, not report, misrepresent, or flat out lie about your income or available deductions. To avoid means to plan in advance, strategize through the available legal channels, and proactively structure transactions in a way which limits, reduces, or altogether avoids the taxation.

At SMAART we are tax planning specialists. We use available black-lettered law to create avenues for business owners to avoid unnecessary and excessive taxation. In order to plan and devise these strategies timely bookkeeping and open and honest communication between business owner and our professional accountants is not just encouraged, but necessary.

Lastly, our tax planning strategies are completely free to you* after taxes. Since all of our tax strategies are priced to produce tax savings. Those tax savings will more than pay for the cost of the tax strategy. This type of tax product is potentially the only guaranteed high-yield return on investment in the world.