Thursday: 11:00am – Grand Re-Opening of Parker Nutrition.
If you need additional information on any of the above, email your Denver Small Business Lawyer at elizabeth.lewis@eclewis.com. And, as always, if you know of any additional events, feel free to post them as comments below!
According to a National Small Business Association survey, 38 percent of small business owners weren’t confident about their business’s future. However, the recently passed stimulus package may provide some relief, and help business owners feel more confident. Among the things the stimulus package may bring small business owners:
a tax credit for each employee hired
crediting a five year verses two year look-back period for business losses on taxes
contracts for new government projects
tax breaks for capital expenses
money for green companies
additional funding for the Small Business Administration
Tonight I went with to the Mile High Business Alliance event at the Tattered Cover on how to stimulate the local economy. One idea that was mentioned was bartering goods and services. While this sounds like a great idea, and in some instances is, there are drawbacks. I am going to highlight two of them in this post. The first is the tax ramifications of bartering. The second is the legal problems with bartering.
Tax wise, companies that barter many times fail to take into account that they must claim any services that they receive on their taxes as income. For instance, if I barter legal services for landscaping, I must report the fair-market value of the landscaping as income and the landscaper must report the fair-market value of my legal services as income. If you barter for services that you don’t really need, and wouldn’t have if you had known they were treated as taxable income, barters can have a surprise when taxes come around.
Legally, companies protect themselves with contacts. If two companies barter their services, either they spend time, and money, on writing a contract to protect themselves, or they open themselves up to lawsuits if a disagreement arises. In a typical situation, the customer knows what they are receiving and how much it costs. I know that buying a cup of coffee is $2.50. People buying my services learn upfront what it costs. However, if I barter my services, I may think that I am going to form a company for someone in return for them landscaping my yard. However, in their mind, the landscaping may entail pruning the bushes and planting some flowers as they value my services at $100. I may think that they are going to do the above plus put in a sprinkler system, a pond, and two new trees. If we don’t have an agreement in written, we can have a problem when I do the legal services for company X and then they don’t do what I thought they were going to do. If we had a contact to begin with it would have helped alleviate this problem, but to write up the contract will take time that may make the deal more expensive than just paying cash to begin with.
I’d love to know your thoughts on returning to a barter system or if you have used it how it has worked for you.
Check out https://www.eclewis.com over the next few days for a new look. In addition to daily updates to her blog, the new site will feature a new color scheme, more information, and easy navigation. If in the meantime you have any questions, please contact your Denver Small Business Lawyer at 720-258-6647 or Elizabeth.Lewis@eclewis.com.
Small Business owners – do you need to get your own clients? If so, check out these events in the Denver Metro Area this week! Should you hear of any upcoming events, please email your Denver Small Business Lawyer at Elizabeth.Lewis@eclewis.com or post them as comments!
Friday, January 23, 2009:
9:00 AM – Creative Connections
11:00 AM – Networking Over Lunch at Fox and the Hound
4:30 PM – Ribbon Cutting for South Denver Metro Business Group member (I may be at this one.)
5:30 PM – BTM event (I may be at this one.)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009:
4:00 PM – IA Social Event (I will be at this one.)
Please contact me at Elizabeth.Lewis@eclewis.com for more information about any of the events. If you are a small business owner needing legal help, as always, please contact your Denver Small Business Attorney Elizabeth Lewis (that’s me) at elizabeth.lewis@eclewis.com or 720-258-6647!
In a recent story, the Associated Press stated that Colorado’s retail sales were down about 7.5% in November.Sales fell throughout the US in December in fields as varied as restaurants, retailers, and car dealers.How can you help your business succeed, or at least break even, in today’s current economic climate?The following are just some suggestions that may help your business succeed.If you are going to hire employees, you can take advantage of certain tax breaks for hiring certain types of employees.If you are thinking of relocating your business, you may consider where you move it because there are tax advantages to relocating in certain areas.If you are signing a new lease, you may be able to negotiate extremely good terms on it.
For any questions about how your business may be able to save money through the help of an attorney, please contact your Denver Small Business Attorney Elizabeth Lewis at Elizabeth.Lewis@eclewis.com or 720-258-6647. You can also check out my site at www.eclewis.com for more information.
