Law Firm Services You Need for Starting Small Business
Small business owners are usually people who are always ready to take risks. These people never fear implementing new plans even when others reject them. However, there are certain areas in which even small business owners need to be cautious. Using law firm services can help these businesses to remain flawless in most of those areas.
You may need legal assistance at various stages when running a small business. The section below talks about various legal requirements you will have when starting a business.
Use Law Firm Services to Choose the Right Business Entity
Selecting the correct business structure or entity for your small business with the help of right law firm services is extremely important. That’s because it will affect your tax liability, personal liability, and fundraising ability. The possible options you’ll need to choose from include S-corporation, C-corporation, sole proprietorship, limited liability company, and limited & general partnership. Once you choose your preferred entity, you’ll need to get it officially designated via your secretary of state.
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Small businesses typically begin as partnerships or sole proprietorships. That’s because these two entities require nominal setup time and paperwork. However, neither of these business entities offers enough liability protection to business owners. Thus, as your business grows, the company offering you legal services would urge you to transform your business into an LLC or corporation.
Seek Legal Assistance to Determine Which Registrations, Permits, and Licenses Your Business Requires
Depending on the location of your business and its type, you might need to obtain certain business permits and licenses from your city, county, state, or country. Law firm services can help you to understand the difference between registrations, permits, and licenses. These include:
- Building permits
- Fire permits
- Industry-specific permits (for instance, permits to run a construction business, manufacturing unit, hospitality business, legal practice, etc.)
- Health and safety-related permits
- Business licenses
- Liquor licenses, and so on
You may also need intellectual property licensing for IP belonging to other businesses. Additionally, registering all new brands launched by your company is also mandatory. There are too many requirements and only an experienced legal team can make sure that you are meeting them all aptly.
Use Law Firm Services to Pay Your Business Taxes Properly
The law in the United States requires all business owners to pay taxes. These include sales tax, self-employment taxes, and income tax. A top law firm will surely assist you in submitting your taxes appropriately by connecting you to top tax advisors and accountants.
Small businesses often cannot wait till March/April to pay their taxes. The US Internal Revenue Service needs these businesses to follow a specific tax schedule. The said schedule requires them to pay taxes every quarter. A competent tax advisor offering reputed law firm services will ensure that your business meets all IRS requirements and doesn’t need to pay any fines.
Obtain Your Employer Identification Number
You cannot operate as a real business if you don’t have an employer identification number. Having your EIN is a must for opening corporate bank accounts and filing business tax returns. You are exempt from this regulation only if you are running a sole proprietorship business or a single-member LLC.
Seek Professional Assistance to Classify Your Staff
If you want to run a small business successfully, you must know what kind of staff you are hiring. Classifying your staff appropriately is a must primarily for tax reasons. Ignoring it can make you and your employees face tax issues. Additionally, proper classification by using law firm services will help you to clarify what exactly you are expecting from your employees and vice versa.
You must understand that there’s a difference between hiring employees and independent contractors. Misclassification can make you pay extra wages and high penalties.
Use Business Law Services to Protect Your Intellectual Properties
Examples of intellectual properties include trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights, patents, etc. If you own such properties, you must take the necessary steps to protect them. If you have exclusive rights to display and reproduce your creations, you’ll be able to run your business more confidently.
You should never delay the process of filing patents as it might need you to wait for as much as five years or even more to get a patent. Experienced law firm services can definitely make the process simpler and faster for you.
Final Words
The section above must have helped you to comprehend the importance of law firm services for a small business. You must hire law firms for everything from selecting a proper business entity and getting your name on the brand registry to filing taxes and obtaining EIN.