Blogs

Business and Financial Services

How Tax Reform May Impact You

Congress has passed tax reform and President Trump has signed the bill into law. Consequently, the tax code will be dramatically changed for many. Although there are many uncertainties in how the implementing regulations and rules will look, many businesses and certain industries will significantly benefit. There will be ample tax planning opportunities, and we…

January 2, 2018

Business and Financial Services

REMINDER – Electronic Registration of DMCA Agent Required By December 31

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) provides safe harbors from copyright infringement liability for certain kinds of online service providers — for example, websites that allow users to post or store material on their systems. If a provider is in compliance with the statute, it will be shielded from liability for infringing materials posted by…

December 21, 2017

Business and Financial Services

Is Your Business Website ADA Compliant?

The remarkable interconnectedness of our world through the internet has exponentially increased consumer access to information, goods, services and people. This nexus has also created some uncertainty regarding the application of many laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Congress clearly could not have anticipated widespread consumer use of the internet or the dramatic surge in e-commerce in recent years, when it passed the ADA more than twenty-five years ago. If you…

December 18, 2017

Business and Financial Services

How Much Can a Franchisee Expect to Earn – New Disclosure Guidelines for Franchisors

Almost everyone considering purchasing a franchise business wants to know how much he or she can expect to earn. Federal and state franchise laws and regulations restrict the type and extent of financial performance representations franchisors can make to prospective franchisees. The restrictions are intended to protect prospective franchisees from pie in the sky promises by the franchisor. The tension between what a franchisor can tell prospective franchisees about how much they can expect to…

November 21, 2017

Business and Financial Services

What Should You Choose? A Sub-S Corporation or an LLC

A Limited Liability Company (LLC) and a Subchapter S Corporation share a number of characteristics. Chief among them is that each provides participants – shareholders in a corporation, members in an LLC – with insulation from personal liability while avoiding the “double taxation” associated with C-Corporation status. Double taxation means that a C-Corporation pays taxes…

August 27, 2017

Business and Financial Services

Selling Your Business? Don’t Pay Unnecessary Taxes

Purchase price allocation and timing of payments are two of the issues to consider when structuring an asset sale or purchase of a business. The tax consequences can be enormous if company assets aren’t allocated strategically. Consider this scenario based on an actual client. John is an entrepreneur who starts a roofing company. John works…

July 4, 2017

Business and Financial Services

Indefinite Geographical Range Sacks Enforceability of Non-Compete Agreement

Judge Liam O’Grady of the U.S. District Court, sitting in Alexandria, has found a non-competition agreement overbroad and unenforceable because its geographical component was defined by an irrelevant factor that resulted in a zone of prohibited competition that was indefinite in geographical range. The non-compete in NVR v. Nelson prevented the defendant / former employee…

June 26, 2017

Business and Financial Services

Successor Liability: a New Corporation is Not an Escape Route

A debtor business entity cannot shed its obligations by dissolving and reforming as a new and separate business. If the new business is a “mere continuation,” the debts will attach to the new company, but holding the owners liable for the debt is a more difficult issue, requiring a creative approach to maximize the chances of success. United States District Court Judge Anthony Trenga considered the possible liability of a successor entity and its principles individually when the owners of…

January 30, 2017

Business and Financial Services

Federal Court Halts Implementation of New Overtime Final Rule

Yesterday afternoon, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking implementation of the Department of Labor’s Final Rule that would have raised the minimum salary level for white-collar exempt employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $913 per week ($47,476 annually), effective as of December 1, 2016. It should be emphasized that the Court’s decision to stay…

November 23, 2016

Business and Financial Services

Ten Things You Should Know When Buying an Existing Franchise Business

The typical path to becoming a franchisee is to sign a franchise agreement with a franchisor and open up a new franchise location. In a new, start-up franchise system, this is likely to be the only path to becoming a franchisee. But in an established franchise system with many existing franchisees, you may have an opportunity to become a franchisee by purchasing the business of an existing franchisee. If you are considering purchasing a franchise from an existing franchisee, here are 10 things…

November 9, 2016