Community Empowerment Matters

  The Corporate Transparency ACT (CTA) was passed by Congress in 2021 to fight money laundering, terrorism financing, and other fraudulent activities by collecting ownership data for certain types of companies operating in the United States. Since criminal actors and organizations commonly use “shell” companies to hide the flow of their illegally obtained money, the CTA aims to shine some light on the true owners of these companies.   Under the CTA, small businesses that qualify as “reporting companies” will have to submit a Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) Report to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), that provides identifying information about the company’s “beneficial owners.” With the data collected from these reports, FinCen will create a national registry of reporting companies and their beneficial owners, only accessible to law enforcement agencies and qualified financial institutions.   https://youtu.be/AjxZ...

  According to Forbes , loans from friends and family are the second most popular source of funding for small businesses. [1] For good reason! As an entrepreneur, borrowing money from friends and family has some serious perks. For instance, a friends and family lender may not conduct credit checks or require a borrower to pledge collateral . They may also offer more flexible repayment terms than traditional banks, which can be particularly useful for entrepreneurs in the start-up phase. And, in some cases, a friends and family lender may charge a lower interest rate on the loan. [2] Plus, unlike giving ownership interests, (known as equity shares), in exchange for cash, loans do not require business owners to dilute their own ownership interest in the company. All-in-all, friends and family loans can be a useful option for small businesses looking for funding. Even with all of the obvious advantages, borrowing from friends and family is not without risk. The primary risk being ...

  THE C-CORPORATION VS. PASS-THROUGH ENTITIES The C-Corporation is frequently disregarded as an option for small business entrepreneurs. This is often for good reason. The threat of being taxed at both the corporate level and at the shareholder level, known as double taxation, as well as being required to follow more formalities, such as an annual shareholder meeting, are enough to give small-business entrepreneurs pause. “Pass-through entities,” on the other hand, are typically favored by small-business entrepreneurs because they are not taxed at the entity level, but are taxed on the shareholders’ personal return, so there is only one level of taxation. This effectively avoids the double taxation that is characteristic of the C-Corporation. Additionally, pass-through entities often have more lenient formalities. [1] Despite these typically favored aspects of pass-through entities, there are situations where a C-Corporation may be the most advantageous entity option. What fo...