Corporate « Oregon Business Law Blog

Archive for the ‘Corporate’ Category

Business Portland, a new web site for Portland businesses

Monday, February 8th, 2010

The City of Portland has just launched (mere hours ago) a new web site, Business Portland, aimed at “bring[ing] together resources to help Portland businesses grow and prosper.” According to the Portland Business Journal

The site will offer information related to business assistance, such as financing, incentives for business development, mentoring and business counseling services. It will also provide suggestions on meeting sustainability goals, as well as links to business associations and nonprofit organizations.

Being only hours old, there isn’t much information on there yet, apart from links to some local resources. It looks like the site’s development is intended to follow users’ preferences and feedback, like most social ventures. Since the site has a long way to go, and can grow in any number of directions, it might be worth checking back in on over the coming months.

Tags: business, entrepreneurs, portland, startups
Posted in Corporate | No Comments »

Federal Securities Laws Basics

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

So let’s say you’ve just started a small company and want to offer shares, whether to yourself, investors, employees, or others. What sort of requirements will you have to comply with? There are many, whether on the federal level (through the SEC and IRS) or on the state level. SEC registration requirements can present some of the more complicated and difficult issues to understand when starting a company. In this article, I’ll try to concisely address and clarify some of those issues. (more…)

Tags: federal securities laws registration requirements sec exemptions small business
Posted in Corporate, Securities | 1 Comment »

Simplifying the Home Office Deduction

Friday, September 25th, 2009

One of a number of bills that would potentially benefit small businesses is now floating around Congress in the form of HR 1509, which, if enacted, would allow self-employed home-based business owners to take a standard deduction of $1,500 instead of itemizing home office expenses on their federal income taxes. Or owners may continue to itemize their expenses, if they prefer to do so. The bill, introduced in March of this year, is currently stalled in committee (or Congressional purgatory, however you prefer). (more…)

Tags: home office deduction small business tax
Posted in Corporate, Tax | 2 Comments »

83(b) Elections: A Primer

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

The 83(b) election is one of those small tasks that startups (especially closely held companies) need to think about, but which is often also easily forgotten or ignored. The failure to take advantage of the election can be costly: a large tax bill for a shareholder years down the line could be the result.

So what is the election, and when does it usually apply? I’ll try my best to tackle both issues in plain English. Although this topic has been blogged about quite a bit, the issue can be complicated, and explanations can quickly get confusing, so I thought I’d provide a concise (sort of) summary. (more…)

Tags: 83(b) election, close corporations, irs, shareholders, startups, stock, stock purchase agreements
Posted in Corporate, Tax | No Comments »

SBA Now Using YouTube

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

From the Buffalo Business First Journal comes this recent news about the Small Business Administration using YouTube to post informational videos helpful to small businesses and entrepreneurs. The SBA’s own channel, which can be found here, just debuted with a brief introduction and its first 10 part series, entitled “Delivering Success.” According to the Buffalo Business First Journal, the SBA plans to quickly add much more in-depth content, including programs on

[t]opics [that] will cover how small businesses can take advantage of the Recovery Act loan programs, government contracting opportunities, exporting to increase market share, counseling and training on how to start and grow a small business, and small business success stories.

(more…)

Tags: sba, small business administration, youtube
Posted in Corporate | No Comments »

Another Source for Business Loans: Kiva.org

Monday, June 15th, 2009

For small business owners out there looking for a business loan, the web site kiva.org brings good news. Taken from a story I originally heard last week on Marketplace—by they way, it’s a great show, if you don’t already listen to it—Kiva announced that it’s created a micro-loan program in the U.S. (more…)

Tags: business loans, kiva.org, micro-lending
Posted in Corporate | No Comments »

Interest Free Money From the SBA

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Not for the startups out there, but for the established, viable small businesses, comes news from the Small Business Administration of a new loan program–the “America’s Capital Recovery Loan Program”–essentially a program guaranteeing, through third party lenders, up to $35,000 of interest free money for a year for small businesses struggling to pay their debts. (more…)

Tags: loan program, sba, small business
Posted in Corporate | No Comments »

Business.gov: Big Government Helps Small Business

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

One of the reasons I write this blog is to help small businesses, as well as myself, stay up to date about helpful free resources on-line. Like any group of sites, there are the good ones and then there are the ones that are hardly worth more than a few clicks followed by a quick exit. (more…)

Tags: business.gov, internet resources, small business
Posted in Corporate | No Comments »

Update: Guide to Recovery & Reinvestment Act

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

About a month and a half ago, immediately after President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, I posted this blog entry, entitled “How the Stimulus Plan Benefits Small Business.” Most of the information in that post came from a NY Times article setting forth the various benefits to small businesses. (more…)

Tags: Recovery and Reinvestment Act, small business, tax incentives
Posted in Corporate | 1 Comment »

Employees v. Independent Contractors

Friday, March 27th, 2009

New companies often want to classify any new workers as independent contractors instead of employees, in order to limit the company’s costs. Costs attributable to hiring and retaining employees can be quite substantial and include workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance tax, social security tax and withholding and local payroll taxes. Simply calling a worker an independent contractor, even in a signed, written contract, does not, however, mean that the law will recognize the worker as such. (more…)

Tags: employers, indepdenent contractors, oregon law
Posted in Corporate | No Comments »