New business owners

E. Ten Commandments

New business owners please consider these points

  1. Have a reserve of funds to pay your household bills for 9 months to a year.
  2. Learn critical applications CRMs, and accounting software needed to transact business before you start.
  3. Learn Microsoft 365, word, excel, power point before you start.
  4. Have liability insurance policies in place before you start.
  5. Consult a knowledgeable CPA and Attorney about forming the new legal entity.
  6. Pay your self on a W-2 as wage earner. Your income taxes will be withheld and deposited on a timely basis.
  7. If you must meet with the public, rent an office and avoid having clients to your home. Zoning restrictions, consideration of your neighbors, and parking come to mind.
  8. Make sure all of your business licenses are up to date and in place.
  9. If you have shareholders and/or partners consult an Attorney and get an operating agreement.
  10. Don’t skip out on Health Care Coverage, and maintain your credit score.

Resume writing

E. Ten Commandments

10 tips on resume writing

1) Your resume may only get 10 Seconds of viewing time.  This is the TEN Second rule.

2 )  Drop the “objective.” The purpose of submitting a resume is to gain employment, this is understood by the reader.

3)  Use a larger then normal font. 

4) Keep your content to ONE (1) page only.

5)  Your contact info MUST be current. You MUST respond to potential employers. 

6) Your resume must be factually true, and free of omissions.

7) You must have the content of your resume committed to memory.  You don’t want to draw blank in the middle of an interview about a detail in YOUR resume. 

8)  Have a friend proficient in grammar  and spelling proof read your document, or use https://www.grammarly.com, OR better yet hire your own editor at https://www.fiverr.com

9) Upload, email or otherwise send a high quality pdf document NOT a MS word document. It you are going to an in person interview consider printing on high quality paper.

10)  Make certain your social media profile(s) matches the image you are conveying in your resume. 

SALT Deduction – has rusted out your 2021 Itemized Deductions

A picture of a rusted out boat

If you itemize your deductions, the aggregate amount of SALT State and Local Taxes shall not Exceed $10,000.

SALT TAXES ARE: State and Local Taxes are Real Estate Taxes, State and Local Income Taxes, State and Local Personal Property taxes.

Based on our experience from the 2021 tax season (2020 Form 1040), the $10,000 SALT limitation forced many taxpayers to use the Standard Deduction.

For your 2021 Form 1040 The Standard Deductions per the IRC are:

Married Individuals Filing Joint Returns $ 25,100
Heads of Households $ 18,800
Unmarried Individuals $ 12,550
Married Individuals Filing Separate Returns $ 14,250
Standard Deductions

E Ten Broeck SALT predictions:

Due to the fact that taxpayers who used to itemize are now forced into the Standard Deduction, I have the following predictions:

  • Charitable deduction: There will be a decline in charitable giving. Tax savings motivate charitable giving.
  • Mortgage Interest Deduction: There will be a decline in Home Ownership, more taxpayers will consider renting verses owning a home. Same applies to Real Estate Taxes. Tax favored deductions like mortgage interest and real estate taxes encourages home ownership.
  • SALT Taxes: Taxpayers will consider moving to states that offer lower lower real estate and income taxes. In other words, did you see the exit New Jersey for good sign, last time you drove the New Jersey Turnpike?
  • Employee Business Expense Deduction: Employees with high out-of-pocket expenses will form LLC’s. Self employed people will move these business expenses to Schedule C.
  • Investment Interest Deduction: Investors will seek lower fees, and/or use discount brokers.

Thanks for reading this post. Lastly, send me your thoughts and comments at: eric@etenentrepreneur.info