Common discussions during a home business career are whether to become a corporation, an LLC, a sole proprietorship or a partnership. The biggest plus, as understood by many of being a corporation, is the idea that a corporation will protect the owner from personal liability.

The reality is that the creation of a corporation as part of someones home business career can protect the entrepreneur from personal liability.

Referred to as a corporate veil, it protects individuals involved in the business from having creditors, customers and others attack their personal assets should a lawsuit be filed against the corporation. It is not enough, however, for the venture to be named a corporation.

The home business founder has to have a corporate feel in his or her career, with meetings of the board of directors, minutes and note taking and publishing, as well as a corporate checking account and perhaps credit cards in the name of the corporation.

Meaning keeping excellent records and a well organized system so they can be easily analyzed and found quickly with ease. Someone whose career involves a home business and who is thinking about creating a corporation should seek the advice of an attorney who has experience with others in your same field.

The advantages of having a business attorney to help with a home business career are that the attorney will keep abreast of the many changes that occur in the realm of business licenses, corporate and tax issues, the advantages and disadvantages of sole proprietorships, partnership and the various types of incorporation, as well as the continuous changes that are in zoning restrictions and requirements for business licensing.

When it comes time for acquiring a business license for that home business career it might be as simple as a stop at the city clerk’s office and a $20 check.

Or an entrepreneur could become embroiled in many time consuming and possibly restrictive compliances such as permits from the local fire department, permits for control of air and water pollution, permits for signs, country permits, licensing from the state, licensing from the federal government, licensing for purposes of state or city or county sales tax, and permits issued by the local or state health department.

These are the things that might have to be dealt with at the start of a home business career.

You would be well advised to have knowledge of a local attorney who can advise you for reasonably cheap fees at the beginning of your business career until you are ready to incorporate your business.

If you start doing financially well, without an attorney to advise you of different legal problems that come up, from customers or the government at any level, you might find your beautiful financial growing future trashed by an incompetent, raised on government employee, or a greedy customer seeking to line their pockets, unfairly, at your expense.

Many times an attorney can stop these profit eaters dead in their tracks or at least extremely limit the damage and expense they can do to you.

Source:
My 40 years of legal business experience

About the Author
James M. Lowe writes original articles about home business opportunities.

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The first one, a real concern for any home Internet business is the age restriction. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) follows regulations spelled out in COPPA, the Children Online Privacy Protection Act.

The above act requires that children under the age of 13 cannot disclose their personal information unless a parent consents to it. Children under 18 years of age cannot, under any circumstances, be allowed to view pornographic content on the Internet, nor are they allowed to enter into any contract.

Real time occurrences on the Web, including chats and forums, must be carefully controlled by the home based Internet business owner. Bulletin boards will have the same control issues.

The rules of using each should very clearly solicit and retain the consent of each online user to refrain from posting pornography. Also, in this category are, defamatory or hate material or anything that infringes on the rights of others.

It is probably not a law and may never be so but respecting, truthfulness and fairness to other human beings should be a serious concern also.

Your company should also clearly state, on its site, that you are not liable for other users that commit to following your policies and guidelines but subsequently violate them. I always keep a sharp eye out on my web sites for this anyway and hope others will do the same.

We should all keep an eye out to preserve the integrity of the internet for all of us.

To make your ownership of all property real and keep content rights safe, on your home based business Internet site, you will need a copyright notice on the site footer, maybe on every page. The notice should clearly have the date, your name and the statement, All rights reserved.

A real copy of your business online site should be filed with the U.S. copyright office. This will effectively record ownership of the site contents, as well as its look and its feel. Incidentally, this will instill confidence in your site visitors that you are sincere about having a worthy web site.

Carefully choose a domain name that clearly conveys the products or services of your real home based Internet business. It is the beginning of every sale or donation you ever get from your home business.

It is your very valuable headline. Register your domain name as a trademark and you can retain ownership should it be challenged by another business. Sometimes this will happen.

Your site is on the World Wide Web so you must comply with export regulations. If you sell goods over the Internet to these global consumers, which you should want to do, then you are exporting items for sale and entering into international countries and commerce. Your market increases by hundreds of millions of flesh and blood humans.

If your site is encrypted then you are exporting to other countries per U.S. Department of Commerce and Defense technology regulations. There are many U.S. federal agencies that have regulations in force.

Enforcement agencies are expected to enforce them with the intent of the law, for doing business with other countries. This is their job. Times and circumstances require a firm to get an export license to send information, technology or goods abroad.

Regarding other countries, there is now software on the internet that translates into many of the major world languages. If your web site can sell goods world wide you can use this software to major advantage to sell in many more places.

Your Google Ad Sense will be in other languages giving you more action also so many millions more prospects can read and buy from you. Your online pages will increase dramatically giving you far more links and exposure. Your Alexa rating will begin to rise. Understand the immense benefit from this.

There are countries with whom business transactions are limited severely for U.S. firms. These countries are Cuba, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Syria and Yugoslavia.

Romania and Malaysia are rife with dishonesty on the internet. It is best to risk losing business with these two countries for now because your chances of being cheated are very high and not worth the risk with such poor odds that are not in your favor.

The best decision about the real problems you might encounter for your home based online business doing commerce with these countries and or the residents should be made with your attorney. Better yet, forget all of these until international relations with them get a lot better.

About the Author
James M. Lowe writes original articles about home business issues.

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Buying or merging with another company?

When do you exactly need a business attorney?

Before hiring a business attorney, you might want to ask your prospect these questions:

• How long he has been practicing law?

• What is his area of specialty?

• Has he represented a similar company before?

• Who are the other lawyers and paralegal who will work with him in the firm?

• How much are the legal fees and the expenses that will be charged?

• Are the sample legal forms, agreements and policies that you can see?

• How many corporations has he incorporated?

• Has he any experience in handling employment matters?

• Has he any experience in dealing with tax issues?

• Has he any business advice to keep you safe from lawsuits?

When serious legal problems arise, you will need the skills and experience of a business lawyer. Here are a few situations when the services of a business lawyer are needed:

• In special allocation meeting – This is the time when you and your business partner decide to set aside profits and losses in your partnership agreement

• When either one of you in the partnership wants to donate or contribute an appreciated property to the partnership

• When an employee or former associate threatens to sue your company

In addition, when business is running, you will need the services of a lawyer to do the following tasks:

• Prepare written agreements for hiring of contractors and consultants

• Create documents for clients and customers

• Document business meetings and actions

• Call and hold corporate meetings, and prepare its minutes

• Draft buy-sell agreements with business partners

• Update and make necessary changes in business agreements

• Handle tax audit

Generally, what a business attorney can do is protect your business from resource-draining lawsuits and litigation. A lawyer can always offer measures to avoid the potential danger of frivolous lawsuits. Here is some of it:

• Protect personal assets by separating personal property from business assets

• Give attention to details such posting of warning signs and labels on products

• Post store policies in public areas such as dressing rooms, in company literature on the website and even in store receipts

• Ensure potential hazards are cleared which include posting of warning signs to avoid accidents

• Make a record of customer phone requests, suggestions and complaints

• Attend to customer needs

• Supervise staff training on policies and guidelines

• Make insurance coverage for the company against accidents, injuries, theft, and liability.

Business attorneys are vital to business and finding the one who will truly represent your company is never easy. After selecting the lawyer that you need, the next thing to do is to find out information about his background and experience.

Former colleagues and clients can provide you with a wealth of information about a lawyer’s background and credentials. You can also check his membership in the state bar association to confirm his legal personality.

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For more information about the most relevant business law applicable to your particular case, request the guidance of business law attorneys services.