We strongly advise against holding ownership in your company 50/50 because it means the owners have to agree on every decision and we’ve seen too many partnerships like this go south, with disastrous consequences.  If there is a “deadlock” (a disagreement that the parties just can’t resolve), without a written agreement, the only option may be to file for judicial dissolution, which means a judge will order the liquidation of the company’s assets, pay the debts, and split whatever little is left over.  That takes time and more money and leaves the partnership and the company in the w ..read more

An estimated 66% of businesses in the US will transfer ownership over the next ten years, whether or not the owners have planned for it.  Very few professional practices have given much thought to how and when senior partners will transition out of the firm.  Unless the plan is to die at your desk, which we don’t recommend, you’ll want to devote some time and energy to mapping out a retirement strategy.   Transition the book for a share of the profits. This works especially well with companies that have recurring revenue or recurring clients, such as CPA firms or bookkeeping/acc ..read more

Business owners seeking ways to reward or retain excellent service providers (employees or independent contractors) often believe that giving ownership in the company is the only – and best – way to do it.  We strongly disagree.   Ask anyone who’s had a business partnership go south – once someone is granted equity in your company, you often can’t just take it back without either having to pay fair market value for that interest or inviting a lawsuit if you don’t.  One client (without consulting with us, of course) granted an employee 1% of the company and then terminated t ..read more

After following to the letter our article on how to start a business, you wipe the sweat from your brow and think, “what next?” Once you’re licensed and legally able to operate your business, you shouldn’t actually operate until you have insurance. There are myriad different types of insurance policies and the list of available policies keeps growing as our world changes.  An example is cyber insurance that didn’t exist 30 years ago. Here are the major ones: General Liability Property insurance E&O or errors and omissions D&O or directors and officers EPL ..read more

When buying a Nevada business, you as buyer become liable for any unpaid amounts due the Nevada Department of Taxation (NDT) per NRS 360.525.  In fact, under that statute you are required to withhold the amount due the NDT from the purchase price paid to seller.  Your failure to do so results in you being personally liable for those amounts.  Therefore, you’ll want to request the seller complete a Successor Liability form to be submitted to the Nevada Department of Taxation (NDT).  The purpose of the successor liability form is to get a “payoff amount” for any tax liab ..read more

First off, congratulations! You’ve made it to the point where you can’t do it all and need help.  Yay! Now, to temper that excitement, there are a bunch of rules and regulations and insurance requirements and registrations you have to address.  Brace yourself.  We’ll try to list them in order. If you don’t have an entity, you should. Head over here to learn why and then here to learn how. If you have an entity, you should already have an EIN number, which you obtain from the IRS. Register with your state’s employment/labor department. In Nevada, this is the Employment Secu ..read more

First and foremost, if you are an employer in Nevada, you should belong to the Nevada Association of Employers (NAE).  They offer their members a ton of resources, including webinars, sample policies, and – most valuable – a member hotline for those can’t-wait questions. What follows is a digest of an NAE seminar I attended recently, which aptly summarized employer-focused bills. I testified on several during the 2021 Nevada Legislative Session as the 2021 Chair of the Vegas Chamber Board of Trustees.  Some of these laws will seem (and unarguably are) onerous for employers.  If ..read more

We have recently gotten a ton of new inquiries from people looking to form nonprofits and others whose board meetings must resemble an episode of Jerry Springer.  We’ve written before on setting up a nonprofit, but it’s high time we talk about the pitfalls many nonprofits experience once they’re up and running.* Governance Concerns If you’ve already set up your nonprofit, or you’ve read our articles (hint, hint), you know that you need to register with both the Secretary of State AND obtain tax-exempt approval from the IRS.  As you might imagine, the IRS adds another layer of oversig ..read more

We often find ourselves representing the seller of a business, which is why we’ve published a couple of articles on the topic. We get it – as a buyer you’re already shelling out money to buy the business and don’t want to shell out additional money to pay an attorney to walk you through the process, especially when the escrow company or broker is nice enough to give you a form purchase agreement to use. Stop. Right. There. First, it’s unlikely either the escrow company or the broker is also a law firm, therefore they shouldn’t be providing contracts in the first place. Second, they are probabl ..read more

First, I’m going to do my best to talk you out of it.  Regardless of your geographical location, there are likely tons – TONS – of nonprofits already in existence.  Nevada alone has over 8,000 nonprofits.  Under the theory there’s no such thing as an original thought, chances are someone else is already doing what you want to do. Yes, I know you think you can do it better, but I would strongly encourage you to explore the organizations that are already out there to see if you can join forces, volunteer, lead a task force, or otherwise collaborate rather than setting up a new ent ..read more