vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
"We used an internal billing system where we have Project numbers, overheads, and proposal numbers. Projects may or may not have a client backing them, Overheads are strictly that, overhead costs.  In the chargeback system we utilize (written by yours truly) we devised an SLO (Service Level Offering) which is the default, PC and Default software such as Office, Adobe Reader, Windows etc... and the hardware itself plus depreciation. This, when analyzed with total Business Unit working manhours, can devise an hourly rate that we apply to all Projects/Overheads/Proposals through time booked to these account through the Timecard system. A rate of 3.00 per manhour worked is applied accross the business Unit.  Additional costs are divied by percentage based on Timecards. If Employee A charges 50% time to Project 1, 40% to Project 2 and 10% to project C, then those percentages will be applied to divy out the additional IT costs to the various projects, and thus making these items billable back to the client. This lowers our Overhead costs, transfers cost from Cost Centre to Profit Centre and lowers our GMAF.  As for external to IT, it often prevents shit from getting done. ""Hey man, can you help me for a second?"" ""RAAAAAAWWW GIMME CHARGE NUMBER!!!!!!!!"" and creates internal animosity between project managers."
You're charging service fees as a conduit entity for these tickets. While the service fee is not a fixed rate, but a percentage, you would need to record each purchase at dollar amount. To illustrate, it would look like:   Now, to your question:  How do I report this on my taxes? You would first start out by filing your Schedule C from the eyes of the business (the money you earn at your job, and the money you earn as a business are different). Just keep a general journal with the above entry for each sale and close them down to a simple balance sheet and income statement and you should be fine. Of course, read the instructions for your Schedule C before you begin.  As always, good luck.
I found it helpful to first network with other like minded people and split project money according to skill level and time commitment on a per project basis. This will allow you to take on bigger projects. * But growing the company will eventually require you to hire (or contract) someone at a far lower pay rate than what you're bringing in. The laws of supply and demand require you to do this as a business person if you're to grow the business (so that the business has money beyond what you're being paid). This is where the extra money comes from: selling the time of others at a higher price than you're paying them. Be conscious of this. Everyone you work with is not going to be your friend. * Make your website awesome. It doesn't have to be a work of art, but let it reflect the seriousness with which you approach your customers' projects. Make sure there are no grammatical errors. Find a website of someone highly successful who's doing what you're doing and emulate it. You don't have to have a portfolio starting out. Your website is your first portfolio item, and if it's awesome, prospects will think you'll do the same for them. Good luck! I'm sure I'm not the only one here who thinks your early developed entrepreneurship is going to take you far."
I would not do a bill of sale for less, but a legal and safe way to reduce the taxes is to write separate bills for the boat, motor and trailer.  The taxes are paid at different rates and will represent to full sale price.
From what I can understand you will be paying money to buy a business with more problems than assets. If it's all about the reviews then register an LLC yourself and do some marketing work, it will cost much less. If this business had clients and constant recurring revenue then that would be a different story.
Your best approach is to assess rent levels in your local area for offices of a similar size. You need to take into account all the usuals - amenities, parking, etc, just as if your home-office was provided by a third-party. Get your $/sq ft and work out the monthly amount. With this figure, you need to then work out what % of it you can charge. If the space is used exclusively for the business, charge 100%. If it's used about half the time, charge 50%, etc. I would strongly advise you to do two things - 1. make sure your accountant and your attorney help you get this squared away. 2. document everything about how you arrived at the cost. Nothing fancy, but dates, realtors, addresses, $/sq foot. A simple table will do. By doing these two things, if the IRS should come around to chat, you should be covered.
Nobody owes anyone else a living, or preservation of a business model.  [Creative destruction](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_destruction) is good for progress.  Note that it is already the case that physical retailers charge less online for picking up the exact same item in the same store.  For example Walmart will sell you an iPod touch for $189 for same day instore pickup, but if you walked into the store and bought it from the shelves they charge $199.  I don't use Amazon because I'm probably one of the only honest Californians and don't want the hassle of working out use taxes.  If Amazon did collect sales tax I would consider them.  The correct solution is of course to get rid of sales tax everywhere as it imposes a huge burden to collect and is [regressive](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regressive_tax).
Did he say why he wants double your asking price? Did you explain to him how you came up with the offer you made? Sometimes exploring interests (why people make their decisions) is more helpful than bargaining over positions. If you understand why he wants double your offer (and he understands why you're offering a lower price) you might get closer to an agreement. Another option is to defer to a disinterested third-party who will pick a valuation for the company, and you can agree to abide by their decision (and pick a payout schedule if necessary) Think about what you'll do if you can't come to an agreement: is walking away from the business an option and going out on your own? What would happen to him if you simply walk away? It might be in his best interest to negotiate. Or will you reluctantly pay his asking price? Or can you sell the business to him? One option when partners need to split up is to have one of them set a value for the company, and the other decides if he wants to be the buyer or seller. (It's like the trick with kids where one cuts the cake and the other selects which slice he wants.) Maybe you can come up with a fair way of valuing the company. A lawyer will be needed to draw it all up, but you can agree on the framework of the deal ahead of time and save some money and stress. Last thought: when a win-win agreement isn't possible, sometimes the next best compromise is where everyone feels like he got equally screwed. That's ok, too.
"You can hire a good CPA for a really low price.  They can advise you on how to do exactly what you said and many other aspects of your business.  Mine does this as a courtesy with the filing of my taxes.  And the filing of my taxes is not all that much.  It is great value for the money. Recently I had to make a decision that is a potential audit situation and can go badly if not properly documented.  It was not hard to document (with the CPA's help), but now that it is so I don't lose mental energy on if I am going to get ""caught"" by the IRS.  Let them come, I have the necessary documentation. Beyond the IRS, I really like the documentation that you are trying to put behind this loan.  Having this in writing helps smooth this potentially bad situation between you and the BIL.  I would go above and beyond writing conditions and contingencies down in order to keep this relationship happy.  With these kinds of things, cover the applicable 5 ""Ds"" of partnership agreements: However, I would add another:  Boom.  What happens if your business takes off?  Perhaps there should be a clause to retire the loan prior to you expanding beyond a certain level. Please understand I am not suggesting that any of these bad things are going to happen to you (except the Boom, I really hope that happens to you), but it is a way to communicate contingent actions if one of the risks of small business materializes.  Having agreements ahead of time helps avoid crisis."
I agree, and this is as someone who has a hobby project idea that he might someday want to build as a product and sell.  I just don't think I would ever follow the conventional start-up model.  It stakes too much on too little.  It's better to construct a sustainable small business with a product line and revenue model, and also keep most of the ownership yourself, rather than get suckered into gajillion-dollar start-up offices, big-deal conventions and conferences, big-deal ownership of your company by VCs, big-deal coroporate folks suddenly walking around like they own the place... for a product that will end up relying on advertising for revenue or costing $10.
Unfortunately economics (and accounting for that matter) won't help much with being an entrepreneur.  The main thing you need to focus on is cash generation - you need to maximise this. There are 2 aspects: revenue and costs.  You need to plot these over the last 5-10 years to see trends.  What is happening to revenues Are they growing with inflation?  If not, why not?  Is it because people are buying online?  Is it because the products are not fashionable? Is it because people simply buy less jewelry these days?  Have the cost of the products gone up but the shop hasn't increased prices (i.e. gross margin contraction).  Decreasing gross margin could also be an indicator that someone is stealing from the business.   What about the overhead costs of running the business?  What has happened to rent, salaries, insurance?  Look for any unusual trends.    In summary: first you need to identify where the problem is, and to do this you need to look at the trends of revenues and costs (break costs down into categories).
Perhaps an example will help make it more clear. Any given year:  Revenue:  200K, profit 60K You get 40K in profit, plus any salary, he gets 20K Next year you attract the attention of a competitor and they offer and you accept to sell.  You would get 100% of the proceeds. This is kind of a bad deal for him as you could easily play accounting tricks to diminish the company's profits and reduce his pay.  For the given example, you could pay yourself a 60K bonus and reduce the profit to zero and eliminate his compensation.  There should probably be a revenue metric included in his compensation. Edit: It is really nice to hear you have a desire to treat this person fairly.  Honesty in business is necessary for long term success.  I would simply make his salary dependent upon the revenue he generates.  For example, lets say you can make a widget for 4 and you expect to sell them for 10.  Your profit would be 6, and with the suggested split he would receive $2, you $4. Instead I would have him receive like 15% of the revenue generated This allows for some discounts for bulk items and covers the cost of processing sales.  It also allows him to share revenue with his staff.   Alternatively you could also do a split.  Perhaps 7.5% of revenue and 10% of profit.
(I've not read through all comments so please hold the criticism if this is covered already.) The problem here is that I know nothing about your market and neither do you. The most common issue with small businesses and managing advertising budgets is that specific thing. Recommendations here in the comments tend to focus on xyz that every other business under the sun does. Problem here is they cost money and you know nothing about your target market. So long story short think of stuff that costs little but will grabs a lot of attention. First thing print the following onto your truck' I got that b**ch a plunger. B**ches love bringing up old shit'. PM me if you want more.
I am not familiar with the startup you mentioned, but in general there are three approaches to avoid losing money in insurance business: review before policy is issued (underwriting) review before claim is paid (claims handling) setting high enough rates to cover underwriting losses The fact that Trov is customer friendly / lax (make your choice of term) when issuing a policy says nothing about their rates or claims payment. It is even possible they are building a portfolio for sale, and do not really care about the claims performance (policies are sold / customers acquired now, and it takes a time for claims to arrive).
"Profit sharing adds complexity. I'd pitch it as a percentage of revenue to him. ""Profit"" is a term than can be abused. Sales are sales.   Somewhat related, if you're giving him 30% of all profit on all deals, you're basically selling 30% of your business for $80K. No surprise he's interested.   Think more about how you'll finance working capital. You need money to buy the pool supplies, pay for labor, etc. Ideally, you should float as little of this money as you can.   An incentive structure that rewards the salespeople should also be taken into consideration. Build that in somewhere. You want his reps to want to pitch your pools. They need some kind of incentive.   These are just thoughts off the top of my head. I don't completely understand the details, but maybe it'll help."
Basic business concept here.   Sales =/= money for you.  You need to take into account the cost to continually produce this stuff.   Don't forget the fact that prices will fall in the future as more firms enter the market.
What's important at this point is that you intend it to be profitable. The IRS will consider, if it looks like a business, and it acts like a business, then it's probably a business... so make it so. Come up with a name for your business. Register the business with your state and/or county as necessary in your location. Get a bank account for your business. Get a separate Business PayPal account. Keep personal and business expenses (and income) separate. As a business, when you file your taxes, you will be able to file a Schedule C form even if you do not itemize your taxes on Schedule A. On Schedule C, you list and total your (business) income, and your (business) expenses, then you subtract the expenses from the income to calculate your profit (or loss). If your business income is more than your business expenses, you pay tax on the difference (the profit). If your business expenses are more than your business income, then you have a business loss. You would not have to pay any income tax on the business income, and you may be able to be carry the loss over to the next and following years. You may want to have a service do your taxes for you, but at this level, it is certainly something you could do yourself with some minimal consultations with an accountant."
Making an app? The Apple iTunes store doesn't care. So that covers all the applicable authorities you need to consider. Now just go with the cheapest. In the US alone there are 50 states and several territories, all with their own fee structures, so you just have to do your research. Despite conflicting with another answer, Wyoming is still relevant, because it is cheap and has a mature system and laws around business entity formation. http://www.incorp.com has agents in every state, but there are registered agents everywhere, you can even call the Secretary of State in each state for a list of registered agents. Get an employer ID number yourself after the business entity is formed, it takes less than 5 minutes. All of this is also contingent on how your LLC or partnership distributes funds. If your LLC is not acting like a pass through entity to you and your partner,but instead holding its own profits like a corporation, then again none of this matters. You need to form it within the state you live and do foreign registrations in states where it has any physical presence, as it has becomes its own tax person in those states. This is relevant because you said you were trying to do something with a friend."
I would never, ever recommend that to a startup business like what's being discussed here. You're talking about a larger, regional business that's doing at least $200,000 a year in revenue, if not significantly more, for a $15,000 site to be effective. Or an e-commerce store.  But, yeah. Your price is right for that sort of thing.
"There is the price they want and the price you pay. Everything is negotiable when its a service (always possible, but usually harder with actual ""goods""). You should always haggle and price match your vendors. You can also try going to different vendors and not telling them its for a wedding and see if there really is a price difference. For example, call up a florist and say you need X, Y, and Z for a corporate banquet or for a special event for which you cannot give the details. If you then tell them its actually a wedding, and they blindly raise it without a good justification, move on. That said, they jack up the price because they know most people will says ""it's my wedding"", ""it's once in a lifetime"", ""it's MY special day"", etc.... The same is true about diamonds, their price does not reflect the actual supply and demand ratio, just the perception that has been created. However, as mentioned in some of the comments above, the service provided at a wedding may be different or more involved than just a normal dinner The more important issue is ensuring there are no back fees, no hidden fees, and you have well written, well reviewed contracts. For example, we know a couple whose caterer added a mandatory 20% gratuity, regardless of the service which was provided. Most venues or restaurants will not be making the bar a lose-leader, but they will charge for other things.  You can also save money by buying used or looking on ebay for prices closer to wholesale for the product. I think a good analogy to this is the Recent Time Magazine article on the price of healthcare - it costs a lot because its a small market and its harder to navigate, and most are not experienced shoppers in the area or don't have control over the individual item costs."
In the UK we give small businesses the option not to charge sales tax and as a business owner I can see a parallel.  Then I think about it from the perspective of a black, career-focused woman who happens to be put in front of a racist HR manager who thinks all women are baby factories and I realise it's not the right solution at all.
"Actually sounds like an interesting concept for a business, potentially! (grin) You know, depending on where you live and how big the market is, you might see if there's a local ""concierge"" service.  These are companies that will act like personal shoppers/assistants for you in all kinds of ways.  I can't speak to the quality of their services or the pricing they use, but it would be a great place to start. I'm sure you can find listings of them on the web."
In general the other party will expect you to keep your promises. If you promise to do something for a fixed amount of money, you take on a risk and it is no longer their problem if you work slower than you planned. In principle it could even be the case that you take on a project and fail, after which the company may not have to pay at all. So regardless of how things should be written in your books (For example a theoretical pay above minimum wage but a loss for your private company): An important thing to note is that if you are worried about ending up below minimum wage, you are definitely asking a fee that is too low. You should keep in mind that your fee should include a fair compensation for the expected work, and a fair compensation for the risk that you have taken on.
"Anything is negotiable.  Clearly in the current draft of the contract the company isn't going to calculate or withhold taxes on your behalf - that is your responsibility. But if you want to calculate taxes yourself, and break out the fees you are receiving into several ""buckets"" on the invoice, the company might agree (they might have to run it past their legal department first). I don't see how that helps anything - it just divides the single fee into two pieces with the same overall total. As @mhoran_psprep points out, it appears that the company expects you to cover your expenses from within your charges. Thus, it's up to you to decide the appropriate fees to charge, and you are assuming the risk that you have estimated your expenses incorrectly. If you want the company to pay you a fee, plus reimburse your expenses, you will need to craft that into the contract. It's not clear what kind of expenses you need to be covered, and sometimes companies will not agree to them. For specific tax rule questions applicable to your locale, you should consult your tax adviser."
Use some form of escrow agent: Some freelancer sites provide payment escrow services (e.g. E-Lance). In this system the client puts money in escrow for the project in advance and then when they accept the project it forwards the payment to the provider. Progress Payments Arrange a progress payment approach with the client where they pay at certain milestones rather than a single payment at the end of the project. Ideally you would have them pre-pay for each milestone before you start work on it. However, you could ask for payment after each milestone, which might be easier to sell to your client. It does leave some risk, but minimizes that risk somewhat.
Some sample prices for straightforward pay-for-hours-or-deliverables planners: I think I've seen some similar rates elsewhere, too. I'd feel like you might get something perfunctory and boilerplate for too much less than $1000 - how could the person afford to spend much time? - and I'd feel like lots more than $1000 for just a standard straightforward plan might be a ripoff. Basically you're paying $1000 for a day or two of work, you don't want just a couple hours of work, but you don't need a week of work either. Anyway, extracting the general guideline (since prices may vary regionally or over time), you could figure it takes a day or two to do a decent job on a basic complete financial plan without a lot of complexities in it. From there you can decide what's fair, adding or subtracting time if you need less than a complete plan or have complex issues. This is assuming you're paying for time and deliverables, which is not a given. The biggest factor in how much you pay is probably how they charge; a couple of the most common models, (There are other models but these are the ones I've seen most.) The difference between these two models is a lot of money over time. Hourly is going to be much cheaper, because it's a one-time cost instead of ongoing, and unrelated to what you have in assets. However, you won't get investment management, which can be valuable if you aren't the kind to stick to an investment plan or you want someone else to completely take care of it for you. The investment-management planners have the potential to make a lot more money (and are more likely to be in it for the money). Hourly planners don't really have as good a business from a business owner's perspective, but they are cheaper from a customer perspective, as long as you're happy to DIY a bit. One thing I like about hourly planners is that I don't really feel investments are the main place planners can add value, so it makes me nervous to have the compensation based on that.