Archive for the Finance Category

Why You Should Not Be A Sole Proprietor

Apr 4th, 2010 Posted in Finance | no comment »

If you are a sole proprietor–a person who runs a business that has not been incorporated—the IRS is targeting you.

You are a sole proprietor if you operate your business without forming a corporation or an LLC.

IRS form Schedule C is used by sole proprietors to deduct business expenses against business income. The two biggest problems for the IRS are fears that income will be under reported and personal expenses will be written off as business deductions.

Many fraudulent businesses have been discovered by the IRS, since business losses can be used to reduce tax liability, enabling the taxpayer to claim the earned income credit, i.e. free money.

That’s why schedule C is the IRS’ most audited form. Simply having a schedule C in your return results in more scrutiny by the IRS.

Isn’t that reason enough to stay away from schedule C?

The IRS targets services businesses–hair stylists,home services and repair persons in addition to professional careers like doctors, lawyers, computer networking people and insurance agents.

The best strategy for service businesses and professionals is to change the way their business is reported.

In other words, AVOID SCHEDULE C!

The solution is to incorporate or form an LLC.

An S-corporation is an excellent alternative to the taboo schedule C. There are many benefits to forming an S-Corp, mainly the fact that S-Corporations don’t pay self employment tax—the additional 15.3% tax due on the profit from a sole proprietorship or partnership.

If you form an LLC to get away from schedule C, you must have other members (partners) in the organization. A single member LLC must file a schedule C, so you would be back in the same boat. Or you could elect to file as an S-corporation, or a partnership by filing a form 8832 (Entity Classification Election) to be classified as another entity.

Please consult a tax professional to help you make the right decision regarding your entity choice. You may have extenuating circumstances which may call for a different plan of action.

Learn more about Sole Proprietors. Stop by Larisa Humphrey’s site where you can find out all about small business taxes and how to save big money.

West African Gold Production

Apr 2nd, 2010 Posted in Finance | no comment »

In a few years the West African gold production can actually reach the second place in the producer stakes.

A recent report of the West African Gold Sector has highlighted the significance of the gold produced in this area. A good way of exemplifying this would be the increased number of important companies that operate in this region. The report indicates that the West African gold production has increased in the past 10 years with 53%. In 2008 the region produced about 175 tons of gold. Due to this high amount of gold and if it would be rated as a single entity, the West African gold production would be placed on the 7th place against the top producing companies.

Because of this, West Africa could be ranked second behind China in the following years. The regions that produce the most gold are Ghana, Ivory Coast, Niger, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Mauretania and Senegal.

Officials say that there has been a massive turnaround as far as investors are concerned because new projects are being implemented all over the regions. This new Africa has emerged after a period when the investors were not looking to operate here. The Australian fund managers are looking to increase their gold exposure after a turnaround that lasted 15 years.

The West African gold sector has gone to great lengths to convince potential investors that Africa is worth their investments. The Australian producers are thrilled with the gold prospects and the region has become the highlight of the “season”.

People are advised by the economists to invest part of their savings in gold, especially now that the gold market is doing so well. This could be the best thing one could do in these times of little financial stability. Purchasing gold can be a sure investment both for you and your family. This is the right time to make this financial move.

Learn from professionals how buying gold can help you in times of recession.

Payment Protection Insurance Is Frequently Mis-sold

Apr 1st, 2010 Posted in Finance | no comment »

There is a category of insurance that you may be paying for and not even know that you are. Kind of makes it hard to file a claim. Oh, you say, I know about all insurance policies I hold. Do you? Do you know that Payment Protection Insurance, under a variety of names, is included in the vast majority of loan, mortgage, financing (car loans, major appliances, and etcetera), overdraft and line of credit contracts? If not, this is your chance to learn a bit about Payment or Credit Protection Insurance.

These products are supposed make the payments on your loan or overdraft debt if you become incapacitated and unable to make the payments due to such things as accident, injury, job loss, illness, etcetera. All of which is fine as far as it goes. Problems arise due to limits the policies usually include but which are rarely discussed in the flurry of paperwork that accompanies most loan or overdraft agreements.

The first issue is that Payment Protection Insurance is almost never 100 percent. The general rule is that the insurer only agrees to make the payments for a year. If your injury or illness in permanent, you are still saddled with the remainder of the loan. That is right: your payment protection insurance will leave stuck at the point where you need it the most. And if you get fired rather than laid off, the insurer will probably deny your claim for so much as a single payment.

These kinds of issue came up repeatedly when the agency that monitors the consumer insurance industry in the United States investigated the PPI and CPI categories of insurance products. The investigation was ignited when a higher than normal amount of complaints, compared to consumer insurance product complaints in general, were noted in the credit and payment protection insurance categories. The investigation revealed widespread mis-selling and misrepresentation was involved in selling such policies to consumers and a number of financial firms were fined as a result.

The mis-selling of payment protection insurance takes many forms. The motivation for the mis-selling is, plain and simple, money. Commissions paid to banks, finance companies, et al, for their sale of credit and payment protection insurance are high; higher than is normal for most types of insurance.

This alone, while cause for concern, is not in and of itself unethical or illegal. The problem arises when the commission approaches, or in some cases surpasses, the income the lender would receive from the debt repayments were the loan made without tacking on a payment or credit protection policy.

The way the payment protection insurance selling process has evolved has been a perfect example of why two unrelated types of consumer products should not be linked in one financial transaction. Imagine if car dealers sold car insurance as a mandatory element in their transactions.

When we say mandatory, we get to the hub of the matter. When sellers are not sliding the PPI purchase agreement into the pile of documents you must initial when finalizing your credit transaction, they are often telling people they have to buy it or the loan will not be approved.

Other tactics are also widely employed in mis-selling PPI. One tactic that borders on criminal extortion is telling the consumer that the protection is mandatory when it is not. Another is including the policy without even informing the customer that they have it.

Learn more about PPI Claims. Visit www.PPIClaimsUK.co.uk where you can find out all about how to make PPI compensation claims and start to get your cash back.

Cesi Debt Free

Mar 29th, 2010 Posted in Finance | no comment »

To help us out from our debts there are many forms of debt relief. The different companies that you can use to help you learn about debts and the way that they impact your life are numerous. Among these companies you will see the one that is called Cesi debt free.

This company is involved with educating people about the different ways that you can get into debt. You will also be introduced to the best tools that you can use for this problem of solving your debt misfortunes. Besides all of this you can also use Cesi debt free organization as a way to prevent yourself from getting stuck deep into debt.

When you first hear the name Cesi debt free you probably wonder what this company does. The actual name of this company may baffle you even more. To put it simply Cesi debt free is actually Consumer Education Services Inc.

Complex concepts such as the debt to income ratio, secured and unsecured debt are explained in simple and easy to understand language. The site emphasizes the importance of learning better money management skills. The aim is to educate and provide consumers with possible debt management options other than bankruptcy as the only solution to bad debt.

Getting out of debt and controlling existing debt are different concepts and CESI addresses them as such. The website http://www.controldebt.org highlights the reasons for debt and also provides debt consolidation solutions to manage debt during stressful times. It offers insights into how to handle finances in times of distress.

The other services that you can find available to you with Cesi debt free are veteran data thefts and phony bank scams. As these are situations that can occur without us realizing it is best to become aware of these facts. This is why you will see links to these items in the Cesi debt free home page.

For those of you who are interested in seeing what are the other services and links that Cesi debt free can offer to you then all that is needed is for you to check this service out. The nice thing that you can look up in this company is seeing the response other customers have given to Cesi debt free regarding their handling of these debt matters that you have.

The aim is to educate new home buyers and help people with mortgage problems like mortgage delinquency to avoid home foreclosure.

If you’ve enjoyed all the exciting information you read here about Cesi debt free, you’ll love everything else you find at Cesi debt free

When You Need Debt Consolidation Arrange A Secured Loan / Homeowner Loan Or A Remortgage

Mar 25th, 2010 Posted in Finance | no comment »

Debt consolidation is the rolling of lots of bits and pieces of outstanding credit into the one , as the very name itself implies.

This world is one in which everyone wants more and more objects and belongings, and if they do not have everything they want they can become very disappointed.

No one nowadays likes to think that their neighbour at home or in the office has more than they themselves have. They do not want them to have a bigger car or a nicer home.

This is also an age of electronics in which everyone wants the latest gadgets.

Everyone wants to own an expensive Italian coffee machine and the good old faithful kettle and instant coffee is no longer satisfactory, and we imagine that it now tastes like mud.

This desire for all the best starts at an early age with even very young children wanting a better computer and a bigger television for their bedrooms.

The beach holiday at a resort in the UK is no longer good enough and even a self catering holiday to Spain can now often be looked down on .

Very few people now drive about in an old banger of a car and BMW and Mercedes cars are now a very common sight on the UK roads.There are even extremely expensive Italian sports cars as well.

Expensive cars and fancy holidays are certainly nice but their cost can be too high if the individual concerned has not the funds in their bank to pay for the goods out of their own pocket as it were.

Suddenly it all reaches crisis point and you discover that it is proving a struggle to pay all the credit cards that payed for the trip to Mexico and Thailand, the hire purchase for the Mercedes sitting in your drive way, etc.

When struggling to keep on top of outgoings gets out of hand the little expression debt consolidation springs to mind and can be your saviour.

Debt consolidation is when all credit card balances, hire purchase payments and so on are put into the one and replaced with a single lower interest payment each month not only cutting down on monthly outgoings but making money management easier.

For those who own their property the best debt consolidation is by means of a secured loan also known as a homeowner loan or a remortgage, and with remortgages from only 1.84% and secured loans starting at about 9% the savings to be made are tremendous.

Want to find out more about debt consolidation, then visit Champion Finance’s site on how to choose the best remortgage for you.