Consultants

As a consultant, you have specialized expertise or a unique perspective that other businesses value. Your expertise and insights and the value placed on them by your customers are assets - not tangible assets like real estate or cash, but assets nonetheless.

No matter how small its scale initially, when you launch a consulting business you should give careful consideration to several points.
• What kind of entity the business should be

• How or if it will grow, and when

• How to ensure that the business’s assets (your specialized expertise as your intellectual property) will be protected

• How to take advantage of tax benefits available to companies structured in certain ways

• How to ensure that whatever legal liabilities your business activities may generate do not jeopardize your personal assets and your family’s future

• How to ensure that the name or graphic identity you choose for your business is not already in use by someone else

Here are a few scenarios that illustrate the importance of thinking these questions through.

• Suppose the demand for your services grows to the point where you must move out of your spare bedroom sooner than you expected and rent office space, or hire employees?

• What if your consulting activities bring you in contact with other consultants and you engage in short or longer-term strategic alliances with them?

• What if your business is growing and thriving and suddenly you are struck by a serious illness or, worse, die unexpectedly?

Those are just a few scenarios where the tentacles of your growing business may be reaching into areas unknown to you and creating unseen potential liabilities. Before your business reaches that stage, whether you think it ever will or not, you should make two very smart decisions.

The first is to form your business as a Delaware corporation or LLC. The second is to take advantage of the specialized expertise we offer at Harvard Business Services, Inc. to help you form your business in a way that protects your personal assets and saves you money on taxes.

WHY INCORPORATE?

1. Liability

All the scenarios described above, along with any one of dozens of others, create potential liabilities. Signing a lease, hiring employees, entering into agreements with other businesses are just a few examples of things you should never consider doing as a sole proprietor. Disputes, misunderstandings, damage to reputations or countless other possibilities can all lead to lawsuits. And in a lawsuit your personal assets are vulnerable to the claims of those who are suing you unless you are shielded from liability through the protection of a corporation or LLC.

A Delaware corporation or LLC places a barrier between the liabilities of the business and your personal assets.

In addition to asset protection, incorporating or forming an LLC can provide additional tax benefits, such as the ability to deduct business expenses and shift income to individuals in lower tax brackets. And in the event of your death, untimely or otherwise, corporations and LLCs allow you to plan for the continuation of your business by whomever you choose.

When you file your business as a corporation or LLC through Harvard Business Services, Inc., you also file the name of the business. Once that name is filed it is yours and yours only.

2. Tax Advantages

In the earlier stages of your consulting business, the costs of starting up or marketing and prospecting may exceed the businesses revenue and create an operating loss. If you form a Subchapter S corporation or an LLC (Limited Liability Company) you'll pass the tax liability (or tax loss) through to yourself and your shareholders (if there are any).

Those early paper losses may shelter some of your income when your business begins to generate a profit, which is when the tax advantages will become evident. The Subchapter S corporation was made for the small service company (the forms to elect the Subchapter S tax status are available in our free forms kit).

3. Benefits of Incorporating Your Business

Limited liability

Asset protectio

Offsets inadequate insurance

Pass-through taxation (with S-Corp and LLC)

Business deductions for losses and expenses

Enhanced credibility with existing and potential customers

Investor attraction

4. Strategy

HOMESTEADING - Your home should be homesteaded and insured. Homestead laws vary from state to state, so check with a local lawyer about the rules in your state. In some states, you need to register to be covered; in other states, there is a limit on the value you can protect.