The Savvy Business Woman: Recent Comments

Comment on Small business owners & record keeping - You CAN go paperless!

fred — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:22:01 GMT

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Comment on Can I hire "independent contractors" or do they need to be employees?

terry — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 07:45:31 GMT

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(Edited by Blog Administrator. Note: referenced sites in comments are not endorsed or otherwise reviewed by the savvybusinesswoman blog)

Comment on to share home & bed .. and a business? co-owning a business with your spouse

Cedulie Lauman Esq — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:15:33 GMT

Great question.... the short answer is that immediate family members are the only "employees" you don't have to pay. So you can work 'em as much as they are willing to work! Of course, if you do pay them wages or a salary, you will need to follow the standard rules and take out taxes, etc.

On the separate but related issue of giving family members money, you remain free to give each family member a gift (even if it is a grown child out of the home) currently up to $12,000 per year per recipient totally free of federal gift taxes. (You should not do this as compensation for labor, but it does fit into an overall scheme of give & take between family members. Check out the federal gift tax law at www.irs.gov for more info.

In the State of Maryland, the Dept of Labor Licensing & Regulation (DLLR) puts out a free "fact sheet" which contains a summary of the law applicable to wages. You can find a downloadable link to the fact sheet at the following site... http://www.dllr.state.md.us/labor/wagehrfacts.htm If you want to look at the actual Maryland Wage & Hour Law, it can be found at §3–403 of the Labor & Employment Article in the Maryland Annotated Code.

Comment on to share home & bed .. and a business? co-owning a business with your spouse

Damon — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 07:46:02 GMT

I was searching for info on husband/wife businesses when i came across your blog. I was hoping you could shed light on if I owned a business (sole-proprieter) and my wife or kids helped me out in this business, is it necessary to claim them as employees. I am sure I had seen somewhere (still searching for it) that family was able to assist in family business without being seen as employees of said business (being paid or having taxes paid on them). Have you heard of anything like this? Thanks for any info you can give.

Comment on to share home & bed .. and a business? co-owning a business with your spouse

Cedulie Lauman Esq — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:56:06 GMT

To start, I am sorry to hear of your separation and the affect it has had on your business. Your question involves 2 separate (but intertwined) areas of law. As a general matter of corporate law, you do NOT need the approval of a non-owner (non stock holder) to sell your business, unless it was specifically required in the bylaws (highly unlikely). Generally speaking, you would not want to add more owners if you are planning on selling the business. In the muddier area of divorce law, Maryland courts can order you to pay part (often 50% but not always) of the value of "marital property," but cannot force you to transfer title to something you own individually. If you have agreed to sell and split the business proceeds, I would not do so until you have a written separation agreement detailing what is going to happen to the proceeds & any remaining assets. That being said, I also encourage you to ask your divorce lawyer for help in analyzing your assets. This post does NOT offer legal advice, although I don't mind pointing folks in the right general direction (even free of charge)! For a Maryland attorney to adequately analyze your situation and assets, he/she would need more info. It would be helpful if you do some legwork on your own and gather some basic info (may help keep your costs down). You will need more details both about the business and about your overall financial / marital picture. If you do not have an attorney and want to talk about the specifics of your situation, viewers of this post are welcome to contact the Office of Attorney Cedulie Laumann at www.elawmd.com or by phone at 410-216-7000. Contact through this site does not automatically create an attorney/client relationship, which is formed only if we meet and both agree.

Comment on to share home & bed .. and a business? co-owning a business with your spouse

CA — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:21:37 GMT

Wow! I read your article and have a related question.
I am the sole owner of an S Corp in MD. My husband and I work together full time. He relinqued his ownership (25%) a couple of years ago because he declared bankruptcy. We have been separated for over a year and are actively seeking to sell the business.
Now he has decided that in order for him to "give his support to the sale" (which he already has been talking about doing), that I need to change the operating agreement so that it says he owns 49%.
I have NO problem in understanding that the business is a marital asset and he is entitled to half anyway. BUT, I feel this is a move to try and keep us together and that if I signed the document, he would decide NOT to sell anymore.
The question -- can I proceed on sale without his "support" OR if I did change the agreement, I assume that the divorce court would force us to sell the business anyway.

Comment on You've come a long way, baby. Right?

Karina Stabile — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:12:24 GMT

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Comment on Driving Business to Maryland Women / Minority Owned Businesses

Ken Larson — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 19:32:53 GMT

There are many good points in your article. I would like to supplement them with some information.

For an all-volunteer site, dedicated to small businesses who wish to succeed in federal government contracting, please see the below site:

http://www.smalltofeds.blogspot.com/

The federal government will contract in excess of $80B to small businesses in the next fiscal year.

There are over 50 agencies or "Departments" in the federal government. Each of these agencies has a statutory obligation to contract from small business for over 20% of everything it buys.

Contracting officers must file reports annually demonstrating they have fulfilled this requirement. Not fulfilling the requirement can put agency annual funding in jeopardy. Small business has a motivated customer in federal government contracting officers and buyers.

Large business, under federal procurement law, must prepare and submit annual "Small Business Contracting Plans" for approval by the local Defense Contract Management Area Office (DCMAO) nearest their headquarters. These plans must include auditable statistics regarding the previous 12 month period in terms of contracting to small businesses and the goals forecast for the next year.

The federal government can legally terminate a contract in a large business for not meeting small business contracting goals. Approved small business plans must accompany large business contract proposals submitted to federal government agencies. Small businesses have motivated customers in large business subcontract managers, administrators and buyers.

There are set-aside opportunities available for small entities,veterans, disabled veterans, women and minorities. All it takes is navigating the system, persistance, asking questions, registering, marketing, teaming and working hard.

Small Business America is good at that.