6 Legal Must-Dos Before The Year's End
The year has flown by, hasn’t it? Seems it was just yesterday that we were celebrating the start of 2014, and now we’re already wrapping it up. But before we shut the door on this year, there are a few must-dos for your business. Doing so will ensure you kick 2015 off on the right foot.
1. Review Goals and Set New Ones
If you made goals for your business at the start of 2014, now’s the time to assess how successful you were in achieving them. Don’t be disheartened if you didn’t accomplish all of them; just tweak them so that you can achieve them next year.
Nellie’s Super Useful Tip: When setting goals, make sure they’re actionable and measurable. That way, you can assess how close you came to achieving them, and you can take steps to accomplishing your goals.
2. Choose Your Business Structure
I know you’ve been putting off this one, but now’s the time to take action. Selecting the business structure that will protect your personal assets is essential if you want to grow your small business. Both corporations and LLCs offer myriad benefits to you as an entrepreneur. Nellie’s Super Useful Tip: Weigh the benefits of each business structure against the amount of paperwork each require. For example, an S corp will require more paperwork than the LLC.
3. Wrap Up Outstanding Invoices
You probably have some late-paying customers you’d love to light a fire under. Use the end of the year as an excuse to get them to pay you. Send an email reminding them of their past due invoice, or even a gentle phone call if necessary. Consider implementing a late fee policy for invoices not paid by December 31. That will get them paying!
Nellie’s Super Useful Tip: If a customer needs to make a payment plan, accommodate. You don’t want to turn them off of using your business in the future by forcing them to pay when they can’t afford it.
4. Tie Up Loose Ends on an Inactive Business
If you closed a business this year, make sure you’ve taken care of all the tasks associated with it before December 31. For example, you will need to dissolve your LLC or corporation so that you’re not responsible for additional business structure fees in 2015. If you owe your vendors, make sure you pay them so they don’t send you to collections...or worse. Let your Secretary of State know that your business is defunct and will not continue operations into 2015.
Nellie’s Super Useful Tip: Ask your accountant if you need to take care of anything else so that you avoid paying additional taxes or fees on your closed business.
5. File Your Corporate Amendments, if Necessary
If you’ve already incorporated your business, kudos. But make sure you keep your status by filing corporate amendments if anything within your corporation has changed, such as your company name or address, or if you’ve issued more shares to shareholders, or made changes to your Board of Directors. This document keeps you up to date with the Secretary of the State, so it’s a must on your list.
Nellie’s Super Useful Tip: You can file corporate amendments throughout the year when changes happen. That way, you don’t forget!
6. Reinstate Your Company if in Bad Standing
If you’re behind in filing paperwork for your company, or paying taxes or fees, now’s the time to take care of them so that you can take advantage of tax credits come tax time. This can be done by filing your annual report for the company if you have not done so yet and paying anything owed to the state.
Nellie’s Super Useful Tip: To ensure your company is always in good standing, put due dates on your calendar, and set aside funds to pay for fees and taxes before you need them.
Beyond that, make sure to add some rest to your “to do” list for the holidays! There’s a lot going on this time of year, so make sure you take care of you. You’ll return in January to your business ready to do anything!
Let's hear from you! What's on your year's end to-do list? Tell us in the comments below!