By James Pruitt, Senior Staff Writer

1. Registering your corporation has Benefits. . . and Liabilities

One important consideration during tax season is your company’s organization, including any registration with government bodies.

Many small businesses outgrow their initial registration types. As a small organization grows, often the ownership needs to choose different organizational strategies.

Each business structure has its own “fit.” The simplest corporate structures retain the status of pass-through businesses. This category includes sole proprietorships, LLCs (limited liability corporations), and S corporations. Some of these business structures may not pay a corporate income tax.

On the other hand, these companies may lose out on other benefits. For example, companies that pay corporate taxes may receive asset protection against creditors, such as when a natural disaster forces bankruptcy and the ownership justifiably seek to keep their private assets separate from those of their enterprise.

Consider a balance of the different considerations at each stage of the development of your business. A sole proprietorship or home business almost never requires any kind of registration. Such a measure would only bring tax liabilities and nothing else. As a business grows in complexity, perhaps the benefits of registration may outweigh the tax liabilities.

1. Charity Work Can Provide Low-Cost Marketing While Freeing You from the Taxman

As described in other posts, involvement in the community can market your ideas, services, and products. Never forget the importance of tax breaks as well. The advantages of community engagement can lift hearts and spread the message of your company far and wide, but never forget the tax advantages. Charitable contributions are deductible, as are expenses in the pursuit of community enterprises.

1. Consider How you Treat your Employees: Tax Benefits can Arise

The IRS provides many incentives to treat employees well. For example, retirement benefits can not only improve employee retention but can also help pinch pennies when tax time comes.

For example, a 401(k) account for your employees, or even for yourself, can allow deductions in the amount of any contributions you make. As an alternative, a SEP may provide some of the same benefits to employers

More importantly, especially considering the coronavirus pandemic, several plans allow credits for employers who work to minimize the impact on their employees during the pandemic. Consider the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES), the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA), and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA).

Without going into too much detail about each of these Pandemic-era legislation measures, this legislation applies to employers who paid their workers during periods of lockdown, who provided benefits to such employees, and who allowed paid time off for the purpose of getting vaccinations.

The Bottom Line

Some changes may provide increased opportunities for Veteran Small Business Owners during the 2022 tax season, not least due to the pandemic. Overall, the best strategies for minimizing tax liability may arise from investigating the right organizational strategies. Remember to apply a holistic approach to balance the right strategies not only to avoid the worst tax liabilities, but to maximize benefits to yourself, your employees, and your community as well.   This article addresses generalities, and we highly recommend that you consult a tax professional with your specific questions.

VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association hope that this article has not only been valuable but provided some unique perspective.  We work hard to bring you important, positive, helpful, and timely information and are the “go-to” online venue for Veteran and Military Business Owners.  VAMBOA is a non-profit trade association.   We do not charge members any dues or fees and members can also use our seal on their collateral and website.   If you are not yet a member, you can register here:  https://vamboa.org/member-registration/

We also invite you to check us out on social media too.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/vamboa

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/VAMBOA

Do not forget that VAMBOA members receive significant discounts on technology needs.   Check them out here: https://vamboa.org/dell-technologies/

By James Pruitt, Senior Staff Writer

Never Lose Sight of your Core Competency

Your business idea is your own, companies should never lose sight of the uniqueness of your core enterprise. Superfluous bells and whistles only add confusion when they distract from the basic functions of your business. 

Merchants can control the traffic to the website, if not their profit margins. Websites should be carefully designed considering the basic functions of your business. 

In other words, your website should center around the services you can provide. Tangential and superfluous information waste resources and distract from the bottom line. The marketing pitch should be clear and to the point, and traffic to the website should consist of interested consumers rather than gawkers attracted by irrelevant additions to the website. Good SEO (search engine optimization) can avoid this failure.

Don’t Turn Your Website into an Unrelatable Mess of Brick-a-Brack

A website rife with irrelevant information messes with the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of your company, as well as its analytics. An organized website, on the other hand, attracts the best kinds of business. 

Some ugly websites can get away with it. Craigslist, for example, has a nostalgic, folksy appeal that reminds us of the days before sophisticated website creating apps such as WordPress and Etsy. The Drudge Report has a brutalist look that harkens to the days before “web designer” became a staple hipster freelance gig. These older websites already have established reputations, with the associated goodwill.

New Veteran Business Owners need to put more thought into website design. Remember the importance of the brand building. With the development of the company, the “goodwill” of target customers develops

In the case of some websites, such as Craigslist, the plain, no-frills design is in fact part of the brand. Established users enjoy the look because of the familiarity and would probably raise hell in the case of a redesigning. Craigslist is an example of a company whose website in fact has accumulated enough “goodwill” to compensate for its hideous look.

However, most new business owners need to develop that goodwill over time. “Goodwill” for a business means positive relationships with your consumer base. Good marketing should reflect in your website. Hopefully, as you develop a more sleek, well-directed website, your marketing strategy should communicate more directly with your target audience.

 WordPress and other web-building applications tend to give analytics that shows progress as your website develops. In general, website analytics go a long way in showing how well your website reaches your target. 

The Work Doesn’t End with a Finished Website

Even with the development of your own business, remember the importance of consistent improvement of your own product or service. Business owners should take feedback seriously, consistently building up the quality of their products.

Veteran Business Owners should not rest on their laurels after designing a workable online presence. Any such website should provide comments sections and other forums for feedback. On the business owner’s end, this feedback should provide starting points for improvements, especially when the feedback is consistent. 

Conclusion

In the end, remember the importance of good communication. Some terrible websites maintain relevance through their relationships with customers. However, generally, new business owners should consider relevant designs that speak directly to their consumer base. Who knows, maybe even your own design might go out of fashion one day. But with goodwill and brand loyalty, you may preserve good relationships in the long term.

In other words, for the initial stages of business development, don’t forget the importance of a sleek website that speaks to its target audience. Goodwill can take time to develop. But consider whatever market analytics you have available and try to make sure your website fulfills the goals of your business in the here and now.  

VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association hopes that this article has not only been valuable but provided some unique perspective.  We work hard to bring you important, positive, helpful, and timely information and are the “go to” online venue for Veteran and Military Business Owners.  VAMBOA is a non-profit trade association.   We do not charge members any dues or fees and members can also use our seal on their collateral and website.   If you are not yet a member, you can register here:  https://vamboa.org/member-registration/

We also invite you to check us out on social media too.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/vamboa

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/VAMBOA

Do not forget that VAMBOA members receive significant discounts on technology needs.   Check them out here: https://vamboa.org/dell-technologies/ 

There are many business loans for veterans, business loans for military and service disabled veteran business loans available. Most of these small business loans are provided by the Small Business Administration and some are specifically created for veteran business owners, military business owners and vet-owned businesses. The Small Business Administration understands the value of small businesses owned by veterans—vet-owned businesses make up about 5% of the total small business market—and want to help support them by offering these service disabled veteran business loans, business loans for veterans and business loans for military businesses. Small business loans are, sometimes, the only way veterans wanting to become veteran business owners or military business owners can pursue those dreams.

The Small Business Administration recently enacted the Patriot Express Loan, a program providing business loans for veterans, business loans for military and service disabled veteran business loans for military and veterans looking to start a new business. They are similar to regular small business loans but the Patriot Express program is available only to prospective veteran business owners and military business owners. Utilizing resources from the Small Business Administration such as the Patriot Express Loan Program can jumpstart vet-owned businesses and other military owned businesses.

Veteran and Military Business Owners Association (VAMBOA) acts as a great connection between vet-owned businesses, veteran business owners and military business owners. It bridges the gap between veterans and the small business loans they need by connecting veterans and businesses with the Small Business Administration and other veteran business owners. The best way to find out about the best loans for small businesses is by connection with others who are either experienced with loans or who are also searching for business loans for veterans, business loans for military organizations or service disabled veteran business loans. VAMBOA is a key resource when it comes to business loans for veterans.

The Veteran and Military Business Owners Association (VAMBOA) provides many networking and membership benefits for military business owners and veteran business owners. Military small business owners can utilize VAMBOA to connect with other veterans who have good advice on the best business loans for military small business owners. The Veteran and Military Business Owners Association acts as a pivotal networking point for veteran small business and military small business owners.  When veterans and military business owners establish their membership with VAMBOA, they gain access to the multitude of networking and business-building tools unavailable in abundance elsewhere.

Many military small business owners, military business owners and veteran business owners need help finding or obtaining business loans for military businesses or a veteran small business. There are many business loans for military and veteran business owners available through the Small Business Administration (SBA). About 5% of the small businesses located in the United States are run by military business owners. That makes up for about 4 million of the 80 million small businesses. Because of the impressive amount of veteran owned small businesses, the SBA offers many business loans for military small business owners and veteran business owners. Sometimes, the paperwork and filing procedures can be a bit confusing for veterans, which is why it is nice to have a membership with the Veteran and Military Business Owners Association. Veterans who own a small business and military small business owners alike have networking abilities for situations like this only with VAMBOA. With their membership, they not only gain thousands of connections to other veteran and military business owners like themselves, but they also tap into a dense well of experience, wisdom and information.

Military business owners have generally been extremely successful, and a large reason why is because of their networking and communications skills. This is why the Veteran and Military Business Owners Association is a great reference to have at your fingertips when military business owners embark on new ventures or want to continue their success.

In the past two decades, there has been much progress in veteran business legislation and small business legislation. For military business owners, this progress has helped build strong businesses and opened up veteran business opportunities tremendously. In the past, veteran owned small businesses could barely receive funding from small business loans, let alone receive the veteran business legislation necessary to succeed and stand out in the business market. Through the support of organizations like VAMBOA (Veteran and Military Business Owners Association), service disabled veterans, military business owners, veteran owned small businesses and veterans just starting a business have been able to grow and prosper in progressive ways.

Small business legislation has opened up the doors for veterans wishing to start veteran owned small businesses. Some of that legislation has come in the form of simplified paperwork for veteran businesses and service disabled veterans businesses. Other veteran business legislation has called for more accessible small business loans for military business owners and other veteran businesses. This has increased the number of veteran business opportunities available to veterans and military business owners.

VAMBOA is actively pursuing further small business legislation to better assist service disabled veterans, military business owners and veteran owned small businesses and to open up new veteran business opportunities to those veterans looking to get into the veteran business market. By networking veteran business owners and pushing helpful veteran business legislation, such as better small business loans, VAMBOA hopes to increase veteran business opportunities and expand and strengthen the market, since most veteran small business owners need small business loans to get off the ground.

In an effort to accelerate small business legislation, VAMBOA encourages service disabled veterans and other veteran small business owners to network, connect and collaborate using its services.