The recent government shutdown luckily only had minimal effect on businesses in the private sector (mainly, government contractors). But the shutdown was enough to make business owners and operators everywhere think about the unthinkable - what happens when your business is interrupted through no fault of your own?

Life insurance is an important estate planning tool; however, life insurance proceeds can be quickly diminished by taxation. This is due to the fact that a policy's face value is often included in a decedent's taxable estate. For instance, if you own a life insurance policy with a face value of $2 million dollars and you have other assets valued at $4 million dollars, then at the time of your death your estate would be valued at $6 million dollars. Your heirs would be exposed to estate tax liability on the amount exceeding $5.25 million dollars, the current estate tax exemption, (which is always subject to change). Notwithstanding these facts, proper planning can protect life insurance proceeds; one way to minimize the threat is to create an irrevocable life insurance trust ("ILIT").

Business incubation programs can provide an array of benefits to start-up business owners. Think of them as a support service — they provide entrepreneurs with valuable resources. The goal of a business incubator is to "produce" a business that will exit the program and be able to successfully operate on its own.

According to Forbes magazine, family businesses are responsible for 50 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Moreover, they account for 80 percent of all new job opportunities and make up 60 percent of all American jobs. Some 35 percent of Fortune 500 companies are still family firms.

All parents worry about their children's future. When you have a child with special needs, however, that worry is often increased ten-fold. For parents with a special needs child, great care has to be given to not only the child's emotional, mental, and physical health, but also to their financial well-being.

Many business owners who are just starting out often overlook the fact that they need to appoint a registered agent. All corporations, nonprofits, limited liability companies, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships and limited liability limited partnerships must continually maintain a Kentucky registered agent. A registered agent is simply the agent for service of process, notice, or demand required or permitted by law to be served on the business entity. Registered agents routinely receive important mail from the state, like annual reports or statements and tax documents. Service of process is the document which initiates a lawsuit against your company and starts the tolling of the statute of limitations.

Federal law prohibits employers in the United States from employing individuals who may not legally work in the U.S. Electronic employment verification, or E-Verify, is the system Congress established to allow U.S. employers to determine whether a prospective employee may legally work in the U.S. E-Verify supplements the I-9 process; an employer cannot initiate an E-Verify query for a new hire until after the I-9 process is complete. The internet-based system allows businesses to determine whether their work force is legal. Despite the system being free and relatively easy to use, many business owners still want to know if they are legally obligated to use it.

If your company has built a new facility or upgraded an existing one anytime in the past six years, you might find that you qualify -- at least partially -- for a tax break of up to $1.80 per square foot under federal tax code section 179D, or the energy efficient commercial buildings deduction. This could be the case even if you had no concrete intention to focus on green building standards at the time.

It is a story that estate planning lawyers are all too familiar with: a well-intentioned parent or relative establishes a trust for a child, the child reaches age eighteen - the age of distribution specified by the trust, and bam! The trust funds are gone in a flash; an inheritance spent on cars, clothes, or fancy vacations - not at all what the grantor of the trust had in mind for the beneficiary.

If your business or corporation has changed addresses in the past few years, are you certain the IRS was notified about your new address? If you’re not certain, you should check, or you could find yourself in an awkward situation if you’re ever involved in an IRS tax controversy. As a recent ruling by the U.S. Tax Court underscores, you could lose your right to challenge a federal tax lien if you missed the notification when it was misaddressed.