Top Small Business Owners Payday Question – How Do I Pay Myself?

Business owners are hard-working and dedicated. They put in probably sixty plus hours a week. It is natural that they want to get paid for their time that they pour into their small business. Unfortunately, if it is a new start-up company, it probably isn’t making enough income yet to see a payday. If the business has been in operation for a while though, the bank balance might be increasing each month as profits start to accumulate.

So, how do business owners get paid? Are they considered employees?

Well, the answer to the question above is – it depends. Clear as mud, right?

It all depends on how the small business is legally setup and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service. Most businesses that are relatively new are small enough that they are operating as sole proprietors or as a partner in a partnership. That means that they haven’t incorporated under state law.

There is good and bad news when a small business is operating as a sole proprietor or a partner:

  • The good news is that payday for the business owner can be any day they feel like paying themselves as long as there is enough money in the bank. They just simply write themselves a check. They aren’t considered an “employee”, because they are a “one-man-show” running the business. The Internal Revenue Service sees the owner and the small business as one entity.
  • The bad news is that they are not recognized as an employee and no federal taxes are being withheld from their pay. So when April 15th comes around and it is time to file the income tax return, the owner may owe quite a bit of self-employment tax on the profits of the business. That is why owners should pay quarterly self-employment taxes throughout the year if they think they are going to owe at least $400 or more in tax.

If the small business is recognized as a corporation or S corporation, it needs to set the owner up as an employee of the company and pay them a set salary or wage that is similar to what other organizations pay a person with the same skills. Payroll taxes will be withheld from the owner’s pay just like any other employee.

As an S corporation, the owner can also make draws or distributions if the business is making a profit, but no tax is withheld from these payments and it is best to talk with a tax advisor before doing so. There are limitations as to the amounts that can be taken out of the business account in this manner.

Hopefully this has answered the question of “How do I pay myself?” It can be tricky determining what the rules are regarding paying the owner of a small business. Consulting with a Certified Public Accountant is always a wise decision when setting up procedures for the organization.

Online Education Degree Choices

When it comes to online education degree choices, the good news is that there are some fantastic options available to you. Online education has opened the doors for many individuals who are looking for a way to further their education and to still remain active in their lives. If you do not have time to go back to school in the traditional method, you may have the time to do so while exploring online education degree choices.

What can you learn in these programs? You might be impressed that there are so many specialized as well as general options available to you in this form of education. Consider the following, which is only a very small list of choices that you may have.

•    Business management specializations in areas such as accounting, general business, strategy and innovation and organization and management
•    Health care specialization including nursing education, general counselor education, information technology, social and community services, finance, marketing, evaluation, human services
•    Higher education specializations such as educational leadership and management, instructional design, special education leadership, post secondary and adult education, curriculum and instruction
•    Human Capital Management Specializations such as organization and management leaderships, leadership coaching, human resource management, management of nonprofit agencies
•    Information technology specializations such as in  information assurance and security, project management, general information technology, software architecture, health informatics
•    Education specialization K through 12 such as curriculum and instruction, leadership in educational administration, instructional design, early childhood education, sport psychology and educational psychology
•    Mental health specializations such as general counselor education and supervision, training and performance improvement and professional studies in education

These are just some of the options you have in online education degree choices. Students can find online programs for virtually any type of educational goal they have through an online education degree.

Important Things That a Low Income Earner Should Do When Getting an Auto Loan

Car finders with lower incomes would usually seek for auto loans that they could obtain, pay for these promptly, and allow them to gain full ownership of the cars that they want to finance. However, getting a loan with a limited monthly income can be difficult. This is because lenders are usually sensitive with the loan applicants’ monthly incomes. Due to this, lenders would turn the car loan applications of individuals with lower incomes down.

But this doesn’t mean low-income earners are not qualified to obtain different auto loans. In fact, getting some of the auto financing deals is possible and manageable as long as they know the proper ways on how to secure these. In order to help them, this article provides the important things that low-income earners should do when getting auto loans and these are following.

1. Accomplish the necessary preparation

Car loan applicants with relatively lower incomes should try to prepare themselves before they go out and shop for the available auto loan deals. They should make sure that their credit reputation is good even although their monthly earnings are low. By doing this, they would probably convince lenders that they are responsible enough to handle the obligations involved in getting a loan.

This simply means that low-income earners should provide proofs that they are capable of handling credit obligations. One thing that they could do is pay their existing financial obligations such as their personal loans or their current credit card balances. By doing this, they would be able to project themselves as responsible creditors.

In addition to this, car loan applicants with lower incomes should also save their money for the down payment, look for a qualified co-signer, and search for collateral that they could use in the event that lenders would require any of these.

2. Search for the best lender

When all the possible requirements are prepared, the next thing that this type of creditors should do is to search for the best lender. They can try to visit some of the local lenders and look for loan deals suited to their budget.

They need to be very patient in looking for lenders that could provide them with what they need. The most important thing that they should do is to explain their current financial condition with lenders. In addition to this, they should also make sure that the lenders are willing to help them.

These types of loan applicants should also search for more loan offers from different lenders to increase the chances of getting the best from what is offered. By getting more auto loan quotes, they would be able to choose those that involve lower monthly payments and interest rates.

3. Choose the most appropriate car to finance

It is also important for low-income earners to choose the appropriate type of car to finance. Since their monthly incomes are low, it is advisable for them to finance some of the available cheap new car models. By doing this, they would obtain lower monthly premiums, lower interest rates, and increase the chance of paying their loans off.

They could also talk to their lenders and inquire about the type of vehicles that they could finance. Lenders usually provide recommendations about the cars that each type of loan applicants could finance based on their income and this prevents low-income earners from financing cars that they can’t afford.

CPA Advertising – A Better Choice For Low Budget Online Advertising

Just like any information medium, the internet cannot survive without the advertisers. Most websites and online services are fueled by advertisement. For business newbie’s, the internet is one of the most cost-efficient ways to reach a larger number of potential customers and to increase sales.Cost-per-action (CPA) advertising is an online marketing process where the advertiser only pays whenever an action that is indicated in their advertisement has been made like sign up a registration form or buys a product. For instance, a client is asked to sign up a form with their e-mail address and zip code, when they submit the form, the client will be paid by the advertiser.Unlike the traditional cost-per-click (CPC) model for marketing where an advertiser has to pay for every click or view of their advertisement without the assurance of getting a lead or if a product would be sold, CPA is a much better choice for low budget advertisers.CPA advertising is strictly a performance-based advertising. There is more assurance that the money that an advertiser pays for advertising will be converted into profit unlike assuming that a product will be sold by just seeing the advertisements.In CPA advertising, a return of investment is also assured especially for an up starting company or individual who is only starting to build a business. It is also an effective way of reaching out to a larger number of prospective customers without expanding the limits of a business’ resources.A CPA network takes charge of the CPA advertising. The network pays out affiliates in exchange for their traffic from the agreed fees from the advertisers for the cost-per-lead or cost-per-sale. Conversions-meaning conversion of advertisement to leads (visitor to a site that discloses personal information in order to be approached for a product to be sold) or sale of products-are dependent on the traffic while at the same time; the network is dependent on conversions. More conversions mean larger revenues for both the network and the advertiser.It is best to take note that an advertiser must make sure to provide a high quality product to produce high-conversion rate for the product or service being sold. In this way, a CPA network will immediately approve an advertiser’s application especially when one is new in the business.Because a company or businessman can save in this kind of advertising, more likely, they can save more for their online advertisement campaign and use their savings for other aspects in their campaign.Because this kind of advertisement is also being utilized by major branded corporations, it can also be used by companies as testing grounds for the effectiveness of their advertisement before launching into a major advertisement campaign.Whether an advertiser relies on CPA advertisement or not, the success of a high rate of sold products by advertisement does not rely on the mode of advertisement but on how the product is packaged for the consumers to buy the product. Keep on track and see if what’s best for a business’ advertising needs.