The legalities of creating/owning/running a pet site!

[vplspride]

To begin this thread, I though I would discuss the legalities of creating, owning and running a pet site.

For instance, every petsite should be a structured as one type of the legal entities listed below:

* Corporation - Considered to be a unique entity with owners being shareholders.
* Limited Liability Company - A combination of a Corporation and a Sole Proprietorship.
* Partnership - Owned by two or more persons who are responsible for all liabilities or debts.
* Sole Proprietorship - Owned by one person who is responsible for all liabilities or debts.
* Non-Profit - An incorporated organization from which its shareholders or trustees do not benefit financially.

Every legal entity must be registered with appropriate federal and state entities (read this as IRS!).

* Federal Employer Identification Number or Employer Tax ID
* Appropriate State Government Tax ID Number

Every legal entity should acquire a license/permit to operate in the city where it's owner (business) is operating out of.

If the legal entity has employees, there may be workers' compensation taxes, unemployement taxes and disability insurance that may need to be paid.

Every legal entity must file yearly Federal and State taxes (I strongly suggest using an accountant).

If anyone has any other information, questions, please feel free to post! /

[Tyrant]

The UK has similar options for anyone interested. This is just basic stuff, aimed mainly for those who are sole traders which is generally the better option to go when you're just starting out.

You must be registered as...

Sole Trader - Owns 100% of the business, responsible for all debts, accounting and pretty much everything.
Partnership - Owns half of the business and shares everything with the partner
Limited Company (LTD) - Your company protects itself and you are an employee of your company. You must use PAYE to pay yourself and your company name is protected, however your accounts are open for public display at Companies House.
Social Enterprise - You make money and invest it in community and charity.

Ideally you need to have at least public liability insurance for your company.
It must be registered with HRMC within 3 months of trading. You must do your taxes yearly, I generally advise doing your own book keeping and hiring an accountant to fill out your tax return for you. I also advise to put away 20% of your monthly earnings, or more, to cover your tax each year. And getting that form in sooner rather then later so you have longer to get the money together for it.
You must also pay National Insurance (£2.50 a week) and Income tax (12%) if you opt to be a Sole Trader/Partnership earning under £70k (I think!).

[myrianna]

hmmm. what I really need to know is laws covering people from another country., if owners are from different counties etc. If they were permanent 'staff' would they be paid the rate of the country of the owner, by their countries rates, what about taxes. Or do the owners have to be clients of workers etc? Can't find anything :/

[vplspride]

hmmm. what I really need to know is laws covering people from another country., if owners are from different counties etc. If they were permanent 'staff' would they be paid the rate of the country of the owner, by their countries rates, what about taxes. Or do the owners have to be clients of workers etc? Can't find anything :/

WOW ... that opens up a whole new can of worms. Here's something I found by googling foreign partner in business, however due to the complexities of this type of business structure, I highly suggest you speak with a CPA or an attorney!

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxe...n-partner.aspx

[Ardy]

It would be awesome if @Keith could tell us a little bit about the process, since Subeta is big and official.

[Tyrant]

I'd suggest taking them on as sub-contractors, much easier that way. They sort out their own tax, accounts and all that jazz then and all you need to do is pay them. That's if you just want to go with the basics.

If they're owners though I'm not sure how that works. If you go into a partnership call your countrys tax office and they will probably be able to give you more advice and direct you where to look.

[Ollie]

This is a very useful topic, may I suggest that it could be turned into a sticky? @cpvr

[cpvr]

This is a very useful topic, may I suggest that it could be turned into a sticky? @cpvr

I was just thinking about that. Done.

[Patrick]

My company is an LLC and we have several people on payroll in addition to plenty of sub-contractors. If you guys have specific questions about the formal process I'd be glad to try to answer them.

Just so you know - for most of you guys opening pet sites as hobbies and such, much of this is information you don't even need. For the majority of your purposes a Sole Proprietorship is all you need.

[vplspride]

My company is an LLC and we have several people on payroll in addition to plenty of sub-contractors. If you guys have specific questions about the formal process I'd be glad to try to answer them.

Just so you know - for most of you guys opening pet sites as hobbies and such, much of this is information you don't even need. For the majority of your purposes a Sole Proprietorship is all you need.

Well, I wouldn't say that just because it's a hobby they don't need most of this. If they are "operating a business" of any sort or accepting real monies of any sort, they need all of this. They must be established as a legal entity (even as a sole proprietorship) and they must have all the requisite state, city licensing, etc and file the requisite tax forms (Schedule C, Earned Income, etc.) as may relate to their business. If they consider themselves to be non-profit (because the give away all their monies), they must have all the legal documentation establishing themselves as a 501 not-for-profit entity as the IRS in particular scrutinizes non-profits. My husband's business was a sole proprietorship for 20 years and the only thing he was not required to have was a Federal Employer Identification number because he had no employees. He had to file taxes for the business along with our personal taxes under his social security number. However, once he became an LLC (for tax benefits), he had to file for an FEIN regardless of whether he had any employees or not.