Typically there are only two reasons. One, protect your business. Two, protect your personal & family assets.
There are, however, five (5) mistakes that hiring an attorney can help you avoid. There are actually many more than 5 mistakes, but the consequences of falling victim to one of these 5 mistakes can be devastating to the business owner and her or his family. The consequences can be criminal. Some of the civil consequences can feel like a debtor’s prison.
Some entrepreneurs know or should have known about these mistakes, but had no idea how devastating the consequences are. Most, unfortunately, didn’t know to avoid the mistakes or they would have. They don’t know what they don’t know. They never had a reason to know, but had they employed an attorney like those at Bellenot & Boufford, LLC, they would have known. They would have been well educated.
- Don’t Fail To Incorporate. Incorporating / forming an LLC creates a “Corporate Veil”. The corporate veil protects your personal and family assets.
- Don’t Break The Corporate Veil. Certain actions can break through the protection that the corporate veil provides. The attorneys at Bellenot & Boufford, LLC can help educate you on how to avoid this often devastating mistake. Help save your home, your bank account, investments and protect your wages.
- Don’t get by without Workers’ Compensation Insurance. There are cases where an employee is injured on the job and the medical expenses, tax consequences and out of work benefits cost the small business owner in excess of a million dollars. Yes, more than $1,000,000.00. This is money that will be assessed against the small business owner. It is not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Short of winning the mega million jackpot, these business owners will never be able to own anything again.
- Don’t skip quarterly or estimated tax payments, especially sales taxes and withholding taxes. In addition to the overwhelming financial penalties, there is the significant potential for criminal charges. A criminal conviction, jail and financial penalties.
- Don’t mistake an employee as a 1099 subcontractor. Neither you nor the employee / contractor can classify the status. The IRS determines who is an employee from a contractor. The financial consequences for this mistake can, again, be devastating and last a lifetime.
The best reason a small business owner should hire an attorney is to protect their life and their family’s future. The cost to hire an attorney at the beginning is minuscule to the cost and devastation of falling victim to a mistake that you didn’t even know to protect yourself against.
