query: Prepaid Rent (Accrual Based Accounting)

positive: Your account entries are generally correct, but do note that the last transaction is a mixture of the balance sheet and income statement.  If Quickbooks doesn't do this automatically then the expense must be manually removed from the balance sheet. The expense should be recognized on the balance sheet and income statement when it accrues, and it accrues when the prepaid rent is extinguished when consumed by the landlord, so that is when the second entry in your question should be booked. The cash flow statement will reflect all of these cash transactions immediately.

negative: Hmm, let's see, I always get Credit and Debit mixed up, but I'll try: Signing of the contract: Receiving 500 deposit: When you are done Accounts Receivable will have $500 (because you are owed $500), Revenue will have $1000 (because you made $1000 on an accrual basis), and Cash will have $500 (because you have $500 in your pocket).

negative: Both US GAAP and IFRS are accrual basis frameworks. 99.9% of businesses report under those frameworks (or their local gaaps, but still accrual based). Usually it's public sector entities which are cash-basis in my experience.   Anyway, accrual basis has more to do with revenue recognition, not taxation, so that's not really relevant here. The value date of an invoice (ie in which moment it becomes taxable) depends on tax legislation (which sets the rules to determine the so called date of taxable event), not so much on accounting principles.   In many cases taxable rules are intertwined with cash collection/payment, however, to prevent creative accounting for tax evasion purposes. For example, provisions for various uncertain future events might be required by accounting rules, but the corresponding expenses are generally not deductible for tax purposes (so you won't be able to deduct them until the event actually occurs and you pay).

negative: "Have you been rejected from a rental for a specific reason (leading to this question)?  Landlords are in the business of exchanging space for regular payments with no drama.  Anything they ask in an application should be something to minimize the risk of drama.   The ""happy path"" optimistic goal is that you pay your rent by the due date every month.  If your income is not sufficient for this, demonstrating you have assets and would be able to pay for the full term of the lease is part of the decision to enter into the lease with you.   In the non-happy-path, say you fall off the face of the earth before ending the lease.  The landlord could be owed several months of rent, and could pursue a legal judgment on your assets.  With a court order, they can make the bank pay out what is owed; having bank information reduces the landlord's cost and research efforts in the event the story has degenerated to this point (in the jargon of landlording, this means the tenant is ""collectable"").  While of course you could have zeroed out your accounts or moved money to a bank you didn't tell the landlord in the meantime, if you are not the bad actor in this story, you probably wouldn't have.   If you get any kind of ""spidey-sense"" about a landlord or property at all there is probably a better rental situation in your city.  You also want to minimize drama.  If the landlord is operating like a business, they're not in this to perform identity theft.  If the landlord is sloppy, or has sloppy office workers, that would be different.   In the event sharing your asset information truly bothers you, and the money is for rental expense anyway, you could offer to negotiate a 1 year prepaid rental (of course knock another 5%-10% off for time value of money and lower risk to landlord) if you're sure you wouldn't want to leave early."

negative: You could buy a money order with your cash, then mail the money order to Deutsche Bank Germany for deposit into your account. You could also buy a prepaid debit card (like a Visa/AMEX giftcard) with your cash. Then, open a new Paypal account and add this prepaid card. Finally, send money to yourself using the prepaid card as the funding source. You could use a money transfer service, like Western Union, to transfer the cash to a friend/family in Germany. Then ask them to deposit it for you at Deutsche Bank Germany.

negative: "A friend of mine is a Prepaid Legal lawyer. It's not an exclusive  relationship: he does other things too.  Most lawyers regard Prepaid Legal as a way of getting more  customers. They lose money on the Prepaid Legal stuff, but then  ""upsell"" their paid services.  My friend tells me that he'd answer most of the Prepaid Legal  questions for free, in hopes of building a customer base. He didn't  signup for the trivial amount of money Prepaid Legal gives him."

negative: I debited the principal and interest accruals to an asset account and credited an equity account Why equity? This is clearly income. Generally, except for open balances and additional owner's investment - you wouldn't credit the equity accounts, ever.

negative: There is (at least) one service that allows you to convert USD, GBP and EUR at the interbank spot rate, and make purchases using a prepaid MasterCard in many more currencies (also at the interbank rate). They currently don't charge any fees (as of September 2015). You could use your US prepaid card to fund your account with Revolut and then spend them in your local currency (HRK?) without fees (you can check the current USD/HRK rate with their currency calculator); you can also withdraw to non-EUR SEPA-enabled bank accounts, but then your bank would charge you for the necessary currency conversion (both by fees and their exchange rate). If you have a bank account in EUR, you could alternatively convert your USD balance to EUR and then withdraw that to your EUR bank account. If your US prepaid card has a corresponding bank account which can be used for ACH direct debit or domestic wire transfers (ask the issuer if you are unsure), TransferWise or a similar service might also be an option; they allow you to fund a transaction using one of those methods and then credit an account in

negative: Use prepaid cards. You only have to declare, or mention, or convert CASH. You can get as many $500 prepaid cards as you like and carry them across. US Code only mentions cash, so even if customs thought it was peculiar that you had one thousand prepaid cards in your trunk, it isn't something they look into. Prepaid cards come with small transaction fees though. And of course, you could also use a bank account in America and just withdraw from an ATM in canada.  Finally, the FBAR isn't that much of a hassle, in case you did decide to get a canadian bank account. The US Federal Gov't doesn't care about all these crafty things you might do, as long as you are using POST-TAX money. If your foreign account earns interest, then you have some pre-tax money that the US Federal Gov't will care about.

negative: For a business, it has absolutely nothing to do with what's in the bank. A business could be billions of dollars in the hole cash wise and still be required to pay taxes, and it can also be flush with billions of dollars in cash and get a refund.  It's all from differences between tax accounting and accrual ( standard business) accounting.

negative: "Yes it is possible, the Google Summer of Code students have been doing so for years. They get a Prepaid card and then can spend that in there local countries. They have the billing address as Google and the shipping address as their own. A few retailers have trouble but that just their systems. The trouble people have had is more in transferring the money to their personal accounts, usually there is a charge on this transfer. Transfer money from US (""prepaid"") VISA Debit to AU bank account"

negative: I contacted Virgin Money to ask if the prepaid card you mentioned offers a Swift/BIC code, and they gave me this response: We do not have a Swift or BIC number for the Virgin Prepaid Card. You are unable to transfer funds from the Prepaid Card to another bank but you can set up a bank transfer to the Prepaid Card. Once you receive your card you can log onto your online account and you will have a form you can print off. On the form you will have an account number, sort code and a unique reference number for your bank to set up the transfer. This may work for your purposes, or it may not. If you want more information about that specific card, your best bet is to contact them and ask any other specific questions you have. The same strategy should work for any prepaid card company. Just call or email them, describe your situation, and ask if their card will work.

negative: "To answer your question briefly: net income is affected by many things inside and outside of management control, and must be supplemented by other elements to gain a clear picture of a company's health. To answer your question in-depth, we must look at the history of financial reporting: Initially, accounting was primarily cash-based. That is, a business records a sale when a customer pays them cash, and records expenses when cash goes out the door. This was not a perfectly accurate system, as cashflow might be quite erratic even if sales are stable (collection times may differ, etc.). To combat problems with cash-based accounting, financial reporting moved to an accrual-based system. An accrual is the recording of an item before it has fully completed in a cash transaction. For example, when you ship goods to a customer and they owe you money, you record the revenue - then you record the future collection of cash as a balance sheet item, rather than an income statement item. Another example: if your landlord charges you rent on December 31st for the past year, then in each month leading up to December, you accrue the expense on the income statement, even though you haven't paid the landlord yet. Accrual-based accounting leaves room for accounting manipulation. Enron is a prime example; among other things, they were accruing revenue for sales that had not occurred. This 'accelerated' their income, by having it recorded years before cash was ever collectible. There are specific guidelines that restrict doing things like this, but management will still attempt to accelerate net income as much as possible under accounting guidelines. Public companies have their financial statements audited by unrelated accounting firms - theoretically, they exist to catch material misstatements in the financial statements. Finally, some items impacting profit do not show up in net income - they show up in ""Other Comprehensive Income"" (OCI). OCI is meant to show items that occurred in the year, but were outside of management control. For example, changes in the value of foreign subsidiaries, due to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. Or changes in the value of company pension plan, which are impacted by the stock market. However, while OCI is meant to pick up all non-management-caused items, it is a grey area and may not be 100% representative of this idea. So in theory, net income is meant to represent items within management control. However, given the grey area in accounting interpretation, net income may be 'accelerated', and it also may include some items that occurred by some 'random business fluke' outside of company control. Finally, consider that financial statements are prepared months after the last year-end. So a company may show great profit for 2015 when statements come out in March, but perhaps Jan-March results are terrible. In conclusion, net income is an attempt at giving what you want: an accurate representation of the health of a company in terms of what is under management control. However it may be inaccurate due to various factors, from malfeasance to incompetence.  That's why other financial measures exist - as another way to answer the same question about a company's health, to see if those answers agree. ex: Say net income is $10M this year, but was only $6M last year - great, it went up by $4M! But now assume that Accounts Receivable shows $7M owed to the company at Dec 31, when last year there was only $1M owed to the company. That might imply that there are problems collecting on that additional revenue (perhaps revenue was recorded prematurely, or perhaps they sold to customers who went bankrupt).  Unfortunately there is no single number that you can use to see the whole company - different metrics must be used in conjunction to get a clear picture."

negative: If your business is operating on an accrual basis, the income would be counted as occurring in 2016.  If your business is operating on a cash basis, the income would be counted as occurring in 2017.  If you don't know what that means, you are probably using a cash basis for your business, which means income and expenses take place when you actually receive or incur them. According to cash-based principles, if you receive the check in 2017, that is when you report the income.  For more information, see Accounting Methods in Publication 538. In summary, you can choose both as an individual and as a business which accounting method you want to use, and it is not trivial to change it. Cash basis on a calendar year is more or less the default, and is recommended unless you have a specific reason for doing something else.

negative: Just create him a regular PayPal account, then so to the Pay Pal prepaid card page, https://www.paypal-prepaid.com, order a card an attach it to his personal paypal account. Unlike student account, you have to do 2 transfers, one into his paypal account, and then to the prepaid card. That is an answer! Unlike those of use with teenagers under 18 who now have their student accounts jacked from them and there really isn't a good option. Not happy with PayPal right now.I am sure there is a government bureaucrat somewhere behind this decision.

negative: "You will need to see a tax expert. Your edited question includes the line For the short term, we will be ""renting"" it to my wife's grandmother at a deep discount. According to the instructions for schedule E If you rented out a dwelling unit that you also used for personal   purposes during the year, you may not be able to deduct all the   expenses for the rental part. “Dwelling unit” (unit) means a house,   apartment, condominium, or similar property. For each property listed on line 1a, report the number of days in the   year each property was rented at fair rental value and the number of   days of personal use. A day of personal use is any day, or part of a day, that the unit was   used by: I have no idea how this will work for Schedule C."

negative: "I have a quick question about statement of cash flows and how Account Receivable (Net) and Prepaids affect it (I've already asked the accounting subreddit but was wondering if anyone who does fundamental analysis etc would have a take on it).   It stems from a homework problem where I have to reconstruct a cash flow statement using two comparative balance sheets (end of period 2013 and end of period 2014) and a change in retained earnings statement.  The following transaction took place in 2014   ""The firm wrote off accounts receivable as uncollectible totaling $16,300 in 2013 and $18,500 in 2014. It recognized expired insurance of $4,100 in 2013 and $3,900 in 2014.""  My understanding is that the write offs have already been subtracted in order to yield Account Receivable (Net) and therefore I can just take the change in that account and make the appropriate entry.  For the recognition of expired insurance I can simply take the change in the Prepayment account and record the appropriate cash flow entry.  Am I correct in assuming this? Or did they give me those amounts in order to figure out Accounts Receivable (Gross) and take the change in that?"

negative: Most likely your accounting is cash basis, not accrual, so it's pretty tough to do unless you resort to the dodgy methods discussed so often by the tax avoidance enthusiasts.  There is a difference between a CPA service and a tax lawyer, perhaps you need to know one of the latter.

negative: You could get a prepaid Visa card. You don't need a bank account and at least here in Australia you just buy them over the counter at the post office. I believe the U.K. has a similar card: Travel Money Card Plus from the Post Office.  The card requires a UK passport or driving license. Other European countries may have similar prepaid cards but may also require resident status and electronic identity / credit inquiry.

negative: Imagine the following scenario: You have a credit limit of $1000 and you want to by a tablet from a store. It costs $600. You then walk next door and buy a TV for $600. You would expect that you would go over your limit and the second transaction will be rejected. As long as that hold is in place, you don't have access to those blocked funds. That makes sure that you can't promise to pay more than you have funds on the card. Holds can get in the way if you are close to your credit limit. People run into this problem if they reserve a hotel room, rent a car, or purchase gasoline. The hold is set at a specific level to make sure you have enough funds for the typical transaction. This distance between vendors is not relevant. The bank is blocking funds based on a request from a vendor. They have to block the funds because you might use the multiple times in the same store. It is possible that the card company might release the hold based on the request by the vendor, but they generally don't.  If this is a debit card linked to a bank account, the bank can have access to the overdraft system or a linked savings account. If is is a credit card they can decide to to increase your credit limit, and offer you what is essentially a loan. Plus they can hit you with fees. But if the card is a prepaid debit card or gift card they don't want to allow you to go beyond your limit.  If this is a card that you plan on recharging, you could put extra funds on the card to allow both the old hold and the new hold to co-exist.

negative: This depends on if you're talking Secured credit card, or prepaid debit card. There is no separate category for secured credit cards in the IIN list; however, it is possible some of them are classified as debit cards (despite not being debit cards).  You may want to check with the issuer to verify this (and you can check the IIN, or the first 6 digits of the card number, in the list I link to above to verify).  However, prepaid debit cards are debit cards, and are less likely to be accepted for travel, rental car, hotel, etc. types of charges (where a hold, similar to a deposit, is charged to the account). This is one of the major differences between a prepaid card, such as the kind you top up at the grocer, and a secured credit card, where you deposit some money but separately pay back the amount you charge on the card (as a regular card). Secured cards are classified as credit cards, while prepaid cards are debit cards. As mhoran notes, it's possible your credit limit could be too low to allow a hotel, airline, or rental agency to allow a transaction, but otherwise it should be fine.

negative: Your tax return will be due on April 18th of 2017 for the amounts made in 2016. Based on the figures that you have provided, assuming you are 18, and assuming you are a single taxpayer your total tax will be around $2600.00 ($2611.25 to be exact, without additional credits or deductions to AGI accounted for). The $1,234 in fed. inc. tax that you have already paid is considered to be a prepaid by the government. If at year-end you have provided more than you have made the government will refund you the excess (federal tax return).

negative: The contract is not very clear. As much as I can understand it will still help if you make part prepayments. In an Rule 78 or Actuarial method, the schedule is drawn up front and the break-up of interest and principal for each month is calculated ahead. At the beginning both the reducing balance method as well as Actuarial method will give the same schedule.  However in Actuarial method, if you make part prepayments, they get applied to the future principals, the interest are ignored. However the future interests are not reduced. Example: Say your schedule looks something like this; Monthly Payments say 100; Month | Principal | Interest 1 | 10 | 90 2 | 20 | 80 3 | 30 | 70 4 | 40 | 60 5 | 50 | 50 6 | 60 | 40 7 | 70 | 30 8 | 80 | 20 9 | 90 | 10 So lets say you have made 3 payments of 100, in the 4th month if you make 150 [in addition to 100], it would get applied to the principal of 4th, 5th and 6th month. So essentially you would save interest of 4th, 5th and 5th month. It would also reduce the total payments to 6. i.e. you will only have 7th, 8th, 9th due. The next payment you make of 100 will get applied to row 7. The disadvantage of this method over reducing balance is that the interest calculated for rows 7,8,9 don't change compared to reducing balance. However if you prepay in full, the unearned interest is calculated and returned as per the Actuarial Tables.

negative: Your assets are marked to market. If you buy at X, and the market is bidding at 99.9% * X then you've already lost 0.1%. This is a market value oriented way of looking at costs. You could always value your assets with mark to model, and maybe you do, but no one else will.  Just because you think the stock is worth 2*X doesn't mean the rest of the world agrees, evidenced by the bid.  You surely won't get any margin loans based upon mark to model.  Your bankers won't be convinced of the valuation of your assets based upon mark to model. By strictly a market value oriented way of valuing assets, there is a bid/ask cost. more clarification Relative to littleadv, this is actually a good exposition between the differences between cash and accrual accounting. littleadv is focusing completely on the cash cost of the asset at the time of transaction and saying that there is no bid/ask cost.  Through the lens of cash accounting, that is 100% correct. However, if one uses accrual accounting marking assets to market (as we all do with marketable assets like stocks, bonds, options, etc), there may be a bid/ask cost.  At the time of transaction, the bids used to trade (one's own) are exhausted.  According to exchange rules that are now practically uniform: the highest bid is given priority, and if two bids are bidding the exact same highest price then the oldest bid is given priority; therefore the oldest highest bid has been exhausted and removed at trade. At the time of transaction, the value of the asset cannot be one's own bid but the highest oldest bid leftover.  If that highest oldest bid is lower than the price paid (even with liquid stocks this is usually the case) then one has accrued a bid/ask cost.

negative: You don't have to do the prepaid PP card, just get him his own PP account and then order him the PP debit MC. It will act as a debit on his PP account just like the Student Account card.

negative: From accounting perspective, an unpaid bill for internet services, according to the Accruals Concept, is recorded as a liability under 'Current Liabilities' section of the Balance Sheet. Also as an expense on the Income Statement.  So to answer your question it is both: a debt and an expense, however this is only the case at the end of the period. If you manage to pay it before the financial period ends this is simply an expense that is financed by cash or other liquid Asset on the Balance Sheet such as prepayment for example. For private persons you are generally given some time to pay the bill so it is technically a debt (Internet Provider would list you as a debtor on their accounts), but this is not something to worry about unless you are not considering to pay this bill. In which case your account may be sold as part of a factoring and you will then have a debt affecting your credit rating.

negative: I'll preface this with saying that I'm not a finance or real estate professional, this is just how I understand the situation and what I'm doing:  We just got a 30year/FHA mortgage, there's no prepayment penalty, and no fees associated with paying it biweekly. In fact (Wells Fargo), while the payments get withdrawn biweekly, they don't actually post to the mortgage until there's enough for a full payment.  So essentially here are the benefits I'm realizing:

negative: "Journal entry into Books of company: 100 dr. expense a/c 1 200 dr. expense a/c 2 300 dr. expanse a/c 3   //   cr. your name 600 Each expense actually could be a total if you don´t want to itemise, to save time if you totaled them on a paper.  The paper is essentually an invoice. And the recipts are the primary documents. Entry into Your journal: dr. Company name   // cr. cash or bank You want the company to settle at any time the balce is totaled for your name in the company books and the company name in your books.  They should be equal and the payment reverses it.  Or, just partially pay. Company journal: dr. your name  //  cr. cash or bank your journal: dr. cash or bank  // cr. company name Look up ""personal accounts"" for the reasoning. Here is some thing on personal accounts. https://books.google.com/books?id=LhPMCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT4&dq=%22personal+account%22+double+entry&hl=es-419&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22personal%20account%22%20double%20entry&f=false"

negative: This sounds like a rental fee as described in the instructions for the 1099-MISC.   Enter amounts of $600 or more for all types of rents, such as    any of the following. ... Non-Employee compensation does not seem appropriate because you did not perform a service. You mention that your tax-preparer brought this up.  I think you will need to consult with a CPA to receive a more reliable opinion.  Make sure to bring the contract that describes the situation with you.  From there, you may need to consult a tax attorney, but the CPA should be able to help you figure out what your next step is.

negative: "Your thinking is unfortunately incorrect; an amortising loan (as opposed to interest only loans) pay down, or amortise, the principal with each payment. This means that the amount that is owed at prepayment will always be less than the total borrowed, and is also why some providers make a charge for prepayment. The ""fairness"" arguments that you make predicated on that misunderstanding are, therefore, incorrect."

negative: If there's no prepayment penalty, and if the extra is applied to principal rather than just toward later payments, then paying extra saves you money. Paying more often, by itself, doesn't. Paying early within a single month (ie, paying off the loan at the same average rate) doesn't save enough you be worth considering

negative: "There's many concrete answers, but there's something circular about your question. The only thing I can think of is that phone service providers ask for credit report when you want to start a new account but I am sure that could be worked around if you just put down a cash deposit in some cases. So now the situation is flipped - you are relying on your phone company's credit!  Who is to say they don't just walk away from their end of the deal now that you have paid in full?   The amount of credit in this situation is conserved. You just have to eat the risk and rely on their credit, because you have no credit. It doesn't matter how much money you have - $10 or $10000 can be extorted out of you equally well if you must always pay for future goods up front. You also can't use that money month-by-month now, even in low-risk investments. Although, they will do exactly that and keep the interest. And I challenge your assumption that you will never default. You are not a seraphic being. You live on planet earth. Ever had to pay $125,000 for a chemo treatment because you got a rare form of cancer? Well, you won't be able to default on your phone plan and pay for your drug (or food, if you bankrupt yourself on the drug) because your money is already gone. I know you asked a simpler question but I can't write a good answer without pointing out that ""no default"" is a bad model, it's like doing math without a zero element. By the way, this is realistic. It applies to renting in, say, New York City. It's better to be a tenant with credit who can withhold rent in issue of neglected maintenance or gross unfair treatment, than a tenant who has already paid full rent and has left the landlord with little market incentive to do their part."

negative: "Outstanding principal balance is the amount you owe at any given time, not including the amount of interest you need to pay as soon as possible. The ""capitalized interest"" shown is consistent with an average of 13.5 months between when each dollar is borrowed and when the repayment period begins. Suppose you borrow the first half of the money on September 1, 2017 and the second half of the money on February 1, 2017 (5 months later).  At that point, half the money has been accruing interest for 5 months.  On January 1, 2018, half the money accrued interest for 16 months, and half the money accrued interest for 11 months.  The lender now expects you to start repaying the loan, with the first payment due at the end of January 2018 or the beginning of February 2018.  If you make the minimum payments on time, the lender expects you to make 120 monthly payments.  The last monthly payment would be at the end of December 2027 or the beginning of January 2028. The lender (or the website) should provide details about the actual payment plan, grace periods, provisions for handling inability to pay due to unemployment, and other terms. In the United States, most installment loans pretend that (for purposes of calculating interest) every month has 30 days -- even February and July!  Each month, 1/12 of the ""annual percentage rate"" (APR) is charged as interest.  If you do the compounding, a 6.8 percent APR corresponds to (1 + 0.068 / 12)^12 - 1 = 7.016 percent ""annual percentage yield"" (APY). Also, the APR is understated.  The 6.8 percent applies to the full balance (including the loan fees), even though the borrower only gets the amount minus the loan fees.  The 6.8 percent rate is useful for doing calculations after the loan fees have been charged, though.  These calculations include the capitalized interest and the monthly payment amounts. A true calculation of the APR would take the loan fees into account, and give a higher number than 6.8 percent.  But the corrected APR would not be useful for calculating the capitalized interest, nor for calculating the monthly payment amounts."


query: Is it possible for US retail forex traders to trade exotic currencies?

positive: The vast majority of retail Forex brokers are market makers, rather than ECNs. With that said, the one that fits your description mostly closely is Interactive Brokers, is US-based, and well-respected. They have a good amount of exoitcs available.  Many ECNs don't carry these because of the mere fact that they make money on transactions, versus market makers who make money on transactions and even more on your losses. So, if the business model is to make money only on transactions, and they are as rarely traded as exotics are, there's no money to be made.

positive: You are in a difficult situation because of US regulation, that is much more demanding to fulfill than in EU or rest of the world.  Second, Interactive Brokers stopped serving FX for US clients. Third, EU brokers - like Saxo Bank - don't accept US clients: Almost any private client can open an account with Saxo Bank, although there are few exceptions. You can’t open an account if you are US, Iranian or North Korean resident - Brokerchooser: Saxo Bank Review Working for Brokerchooser, I would say you are limited to Oanda or Gain Capital. The latter is an ECN broker, and operates through other white label partners, you could try Forex.com also.

negative: Foreign Exchange (Forex) trading is extremely difficult to do profitably over time – for retail investors and institutional investors alike. Many Forex traders enter the markets with hope of a profitable trading adventure, only to find themselves overwhelmed by the complexity of the markets. Binary options trading enables traders who have experienced difficulty in the Forex market to trade options.

negative: "This advanced forex trading course allows forex traders to tracking intra-day banking activity in the forex market. Learn to trade forex using the trading secrets of the mega banks. These forex trading strategies will allow struggling retail traders to follow the ""footprint in the sand"" left by the mega banks, rather than getting ran over by them like most day traders."

negative: "It looks like these types of companies have to disclose the health of their accounts to CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission). That is the gist I get at least from this article about the traders that lost money due to the Swiss removing the franc’s cap against the euro. The article says about the U.S. retail FOREX brokerage: Most of FXCM’s retail clients lost money in 2014, according to the company’s disclosures mandated by the CFTC. The percentage of losing accounts climbed from 67 percent in the first and second quarters to 68 percent in the third quarter and 70 percent in the fourth quarter. Side note: The Swiss National Bank abandoned the cap on the currency's value against the euro in mid-January 2015. But above paragraph provides data on FXCM’s retail clients in 2014. It could consequently be concluded that, even without ""freak events"" (such as Switzerland removing the franc cap), it is more likely for an investor to NOT make a profit on the FOREX market. This is also in line with what ""sdfasdf"" and ""Dario Fumagalli"" say in their answers."

negative: With $7 Million at stake I guess it would be prudent to take legal advise as well as advise from qualified CA. Forex trading for select currency pair [with one leg in INR] is allowed. Ex USDINR, EURINR, JPYINR, GBPINR. Forex trading for pairs without INR or not in the above list is NOT allowed.

negative: It is an undeniable fact that 95% of all retail forex traders lose money. In order to break free from this crowd of losing traders we must first understand the forex trading strategies they use. Only then can we learn how to trade forex profitably.

negative: Actually, most of the forex traders do not prefer the practice of leveraging. In forex trading, a contract signed by a common trader is way more than any common man can afford to risk. It is not a compulsion for the traders to use leveraging yet most of the traders practice it. The other side of it is completely different. Trading companies or brokers specifically like it because you turn into a kind of cash cow when your account gets exhausted. As for trader, most of them don’t practice leveraging.

negative: Forex trading contracts are generally fairly short dated as you mention.  Months to weeks.  Professional forex traders often extend the length of their bet by rolling monthly or quarterly contracts.  Closing a contract out a few days before it would expire and reopening a new contract for the next quarter/month.  This process can be rather expensive and time consuming for a retail investor however. A more practical (but also not great) method would be to look into currency ETFs.  The ETFs generally do the above process for you and are significantly more convenient.  However, depending on the broker these may not be available and when available can be illiquid and/or expensive even in major currency pairs.  It's worth a bunch of research before you buy. Note, in both cases you are in a practical sense doubling your NOK exposure as your home currency is NOK as well.  This may be riskier than many people would care to be with their retirement money.  An adverse move would, at the same time you would lose money, make it much to buy foreign goods, which frankly is most goods in a small open country like Norway. The most simple solution would be to overweight local NOK stocks or if you believe stocks are overvalued as you mention NOK denominated bonds.  With this you keep your NOK exposure (a currency you believe will appreciate) without doubling it as well as add expected returns above inflation from the stock growth/dividends or bond real interest rates.

negative: Many people trade the currency markets via brokers who have developed online apps with live forex prices and many currency pairs. You can trade on your phone, iPad or PC / Mac.

negative: I'm answering this from a slightly different angle, but there are people (individuals) who will do this for you. I know private Forex traders who are 'employed' to manage Forex trading accounts for wealthy individuals. The trader takes a percentage of the wins but is also responsible for a percentage of the loss (if there is a loss in a particular month). However the fact that the trader is able to prove that they have a consistent enough trading history to be trusted with the large accounts generally means that losses are rare (one would hope!). Obviously they have contracts in place (and the terms of the contract are crucial to the responsibility of losses) etc. but I don't know what the legalities are of offering or using this kind of service. I just wanted to mention it, while perhaps not being the best option for you personally, it does exist and matches your requirements.  You would just have to be extremely careful to choose someone respectable and responsible, as it would be much easier to get ripped off while looking for a respected individual to trade your account than it would be while looking for a respected firm (I would imagine).

negative: What you are asking about is called Interest Rate Parity. Or for a longer explanation the article Interest Rate Parity at Wikipedia.  If the US has a rate of say zero, and the rate in Elbonia is 10%, one believes that in a year the exchange rate will be shifted by 10%, i.e. it will take 1.1 unit of their currency to get the dollars one unit did prior.  Else, you'd always profit from such FOREX trades.  (Disclaimer - I am not claiming this to be true or false, just offering one theory that explains the rate difference effect on future exchange rates.

negative: "I think you need to define what you mean by ""buy currency online using some online forex trading platform"" ... In large Fx trades, real money [you mean actual electronic money, as there is not paper that travels these days]...   The Fx market is quite wide with all kinds of trades. There are quite a few Fx transactions that are meant for delivery. You have to pay in the currency for full amount and you get the funds electronicall credited to you in other currency [ofcouse you have an account in the other currency or you have an obligation to pay]. This type of transaction is valid in Ismalic Banking. The practise of derivaties based on this or forward contracts on this is not allowed."

negative: There are many good brokers available in the market and many spammers too. Personally I have been associated with FXCM since 2001 and have never faced any problem. But everyone has their own personal choice and I recommend you to make your own. But the question is how to find out which broker is a good broker and would provide you with a timely and reliable service? Online google check? Not really. There is so much competition between brokerage firms that they keep writing rubbish about each other on blogs and websites. Best thing is to is check with regulator's website. For US: NFA is a regulator for all forex firms. Information about any regulated forex firm could be found here. http://www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/welcome.aspx For UK: Its FSA. Information on all regulated Uk based firm could be found here. http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/firmSearchForm.do Remember in many countries its not compulsory for a forex firm to be regulated but being regulated ensure that the govt. has a watch on the operations of the firm. Also most of the firms out there provide accounts for large as well as small traders so there is nothing much to look for even if you are a small trader. Do keep in mind that if you are a US Citizen you are restricted by the US Govt. to trade only with a broker within US. You are not allowed to trade with any brokerage firm that is based outside the country. Forex Trading involves a significant amount of risk make sure you study the markets well and get yourself educated properly before risking your money. While I have made a lot of money trading forex I have seen a lot of people loosing everything. Please understand the risk and please make sure you only trade with the money which you can afford to loose.

negative: This forex training video illustrates the proper use of the stop run reversal forex trading strategy. The stop run strategy effectively spots banking manipulation in the forex market, thus allowing us as retail traders to take the same trades as the mega banks. Learn how to trade forex with the banks using this forex training video.

negative: I work at a FOREX broker, and can tell you that what you want to do is NOT possible. If someone is telling you it is, they're lying. You could (in theory) make money from the SWAP (the interest you speak of is called SWAP) if you go both short and long on the same currency, but there are various reasons why this never works. Furthermore, I don't know of any brokers that are paying positive SWAP (the interest you speak of is called SWAP) on any currency right now.

negative: "When trading Forex each currency is traded relative to another. So when shorting a currency you must go long another currency vs the currency you are shorting, it seems a little odd and can be a bit confusing, but here is the explanation that Wikipedia provides: An example of this is as follows: Let us say a trader wants to trade   with the US dollar and the Indian rupee currencies. Assume that the   current market rate is USD 1 to Rs.50 and the trader borrows Rs.100.   With this, he buys USD 2. If the next day, the conversion rate becomes   USD 1 to Rs.51, then the trader sells his USD 2 and gets Rs.102. He   returns Rs.100 and keeps the Rs.2 profit (minus fees). So in this example the trader is shorting the rupee vs the dollar. Does this article add up all other currency crosses to get the 'net' figure? So they don't care what it is depreciating against? This data is called the Commitment of Traders (COT) which is issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)  In the WSJ article it is actually referring to Forex Futures. In an another article from CountingPips it explains a bit clearer as to how a news organization comes up with these type of numbers. according to the CFTC COT data and calculations by Reuters which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc. So this article is not talking about futures but it does tell us they got data from the COT and in addition Reuters added additional calculations from adding up ""X"" currency positions. No subscription needed: Speculators Pile Up Largest Net Dollar Long Position Since June 2010 - CFTC Here is some additional reading on the topic if you're interested: CFTC Commitment of the Traders Data – COT Report FOREX : What Is It And How Does It Work? Futures vs. Forex Options Forex - Wiki"

negative: "With Forex trading - physical currency is not involved. You're playing with the live exchange rates, and it is not designed for purchasing/selling physical currency. Most Forex trading is based on leveraging, thus you're not only buying money that you're not going to physically receive - you're also paying with money that you do not physically have. The ""investment"" is in fact a speculation, and is akin to gambling, which, if I remember correctly, is strictly forbidden under the Islam rules. That said, the positions you have - are yours, and technically you can demand the physical currency to be delivered to you. No broker will allow online trading on these conditions, though, similarly to the stocks - almost no broker allows using physical certificates for stocks trading anymore."

negative: I've been a retail trader for close to 7 years and while I have a specialized futures account, I use Interactive Brokers for my other trading. They charge per share or contract rather than per trade (good for smaller accounts  or if you want to piece into and out of positions). You can also trade just about anything. Futures, options, options on futures, individual stocks, ETFs, Bonds (futures), currencies. The interface is pretty good as well. I have seperate charts (eSignal) so I'm not sure how good their charting is

negative: "Depends. The short answer is yes; HSBC, for instance, based in New York, is listed on both the LSE and NYSE. Toyota's listed on the TSE and NYSE. There are many ways to do this; both of the above examples are the result of a corporation owning a subsidiary in a foreign country by the same name (a holding company), which sells its own stock on the local market. The home corporation owns the majority holdings of the subsidiary, and issues its own stock on its ""home country's"" exchange. It is also possible for the same company to list shares of the same ""pool"" of stock on two different exchanges (the foreign exchange usually lists the stock in the corporation's home currency and the share prices are near-identical), or for a company to sell different portions of itself on different exchanges. However, these are much rarer; for tax liability and other cost purposes it's usually easier to keep American monies in America and Japanese monies in Japan by setting up two ""copies"" of yourself with one owning the other, and move money around between companies as necessary. Shares of one issue of one company's stock, on one exchange, are the same price regardless of where in the world you place a buy order from. However, that doesn't necessarily mean you'll pay the same actual value of currency for the stock. First off, you buy the stock in the listed currency, which means buying dollars (or Yen or Euros or GBP) with both a fluctuating exchange rate between currencies and a broker's fee (one of those cost savings that make it a good idea to charter subsidiaries; could you imagine millions a day in car sales moving from American dealers to Toyota of Japan, converted from USD to Yen, with a FOREX commission to be paid?). Second, you'll pay the stock broker a commission, and he may charge different rates for different exchanges that are cheaper or more costly for him to do business in (he might need a trader on the floor at each exchange or contract with a foreign broker for a cut of the commission)."

negative: There are fees on retail trades imposed by trading houses, but not on traders like MS and GS. That's why HFT is possible. Personally, I get 100 free trades per year and that's more than enough for me. Adding a tax to this is just stupid.

negative: "This page from TripAdvisor may be of interest. Look at what fees are charged on your ATM cards and credit cards, and consider overpaying your credit card so you have a credit balance that you can draw on for cash ""advances"" from ATMs that will dispense in local currency.  Depending on what fees your bank charges, you may get a better rate than the forex cash traders at the airport. Edit: Cards may not always have the best rate.  I recently heard from a traveler who was able to use a locally but not globally dominant currency to buy cash of a major currency at a shopping mall (with competitive forex traders) at rates even better than the mid-market rates posted at xe.com and similar places; I don't think you'll have that experience going from Australia to Malaysia (but another traveler reading this might have a different pair).  In my experience the card rates are slightly worse than those and the airport forex traders significantly worse."

negative: If you have an account with a major bank they may trade an over the counter option with you. Just depends how much work you need to go through and how much you are planning on buying.

negative: Yes, orders like this are very possible.  There are nearly endless possibilities for structuring a trade.  It all comes down to whether you have the money to make the trade at the find you find a counterparty.  If you don't, the order is cancelled. Trades like this happen all day long at Goldman, BAML, Merril, UBS, etc.  And on eBay.

negative: Oanda.com trades spot forex and something they call box options, it's not quite what you are looking for, but maybe worth looking up.

negative: Quite a few stock broker in India offer to trade in US markets via tie-up brokers in US. As an Indian citizen, there are limits as to how much FX you can buy, generally very large, should be an issue. The profits will be taxed in US as well as India [you can claim relief under DTAA]

negative: No, and using a 37 year old formula in finance that is as simple as: should make it obvious technical analysis is more of a game for retail traders than investment advice. When it comes to currencies, there are a myriad of macroeconomic occurrences that do not follow a predictable timescale. Using indicators like RSI on any time frame will not magically illuminate broad human psychology and give you an edge. It is theoretically possible for a single public stock's price to be driven by a range of technical traders who all buy at RSI 30 and sell at RSI 70, after becoming a favorite stock on social media, but it is infinitely more likely for all market participants to have completely different goals.

negative: "In US public stock markets there is no difference between the actions individual retail traders are ""permitted"" to take and the actions institutional/corporate traders are ""permitted"" to take.  The only difference is the cost of those actions.  For example, if you become a Registered Market Maker on, say, the BATS stock exchange, you'll get some amazing rebates and reduced transaction prices; however, in order to qualify for Registered Market Maker status you have to maintain constant orders in the book for hundreds of equities at significant volumes.  An individual retail trader is certainly permitted to do that, but it's probably too expensive. Algorithmic trading is not the same as automated trading (algorithmic trading can be non-automated, and automated trading can be non-algorithmic), and both can be anywhere from low- to high-frequency.  A low-frequency automated strategy is essentially indistinguishable from a person clicking their mouse several times per day, so: no, from a legal or regulatory perspective there is no special procedure an individual retail trader has to follow before s/he can automate a trading strategy.  (Your broker, on the other hand, may have all sorts of hoops for you to jump through in order to use their automation platform.) Last (but certainly not least) you will almost certainly lose money hand over fist attempting bid-ask scalping as an individual retail trader, whether your approach is algorithmic or not, automated or not.  Why?  Because the only way to succeed at bid-ask scalping is to (a) always be at/near the front of the queue when a price change occurs in your favor, and (b) always cancel your resting orders before they are executed when a price change occurs against you.  Unless your algorithms are smarter than every other algorithm in the industry, an individual retail trader operating through a broker's trading platform cannot react quickly enough to succeed at either of those.  You would have to eschew the broker and buy direct market access to even have a chance, and that's the point at which you're no longer a retail trader. Good luck!"

negative: "I'm smart enough to know that the answer to your questions is 'no'.  There is no arbitrage scenario where you can trade currencies and be guaranteed a return. If there were, the thousands of PhD's and quants at hedge funds like DEShaw and Bridgewater would have already figured it out. You're basically trying to come up with a scenario that is risk free yet yields you better than market interest rates.  Impossible. I'm not smart enough to know why, but my guess is that your statement ""I only need $2k margin"" is incorrect.  You only need $2k as capital, but you are 'borrowing' on margin the other 98k and you'll need to pay interest on that borrowed amount, every day.  You also run the risk of your investment turning sour and the trading firm requiring a higher margin."

negative: You cannot lose more than what you have in your account (equity). You'll get margin called. No broker will allow you to go negative, at least if they aren't caught off guard like when the Swiss decided to decouple their currency. If you want to understand the basics of forex I suggest you read the following: http://www.babypips.com/school This part explains the basics about leverage and margin. They do a good job so no need in repeating it here: http://www.babypips.com/school/undergraduate/senior-year/the-number-1-cause-of-death-of-forex-traders/leverage-defined.html You you need to keep the following in mind when trading forex:

negative: Starting with the Dummy Forex account is a wise move for every new forex trader. Do forex trading with a dummy account at least for a year. Startling directly with real money is a terribly costly move. Therefore, it is wise to have a solid trading strategy to execute. Make sure that your strategy is realistic and practical. Most importantly, using your dummy forex account, it is must for you to make at least one or two profits in a year. At last, be sure to invest money that you can recover without any tension.

negative: It isn't that the companies force traders, it is more the other way around. Traders wouldn't trade without margin. The main reason is liquidity and taking advantage of minor changes in the forex quotes. It goes down to pips and traders make profit(loss) on movement of pips maybe by 1 or 2 and in some cases in 1/1000 or less of a pip. So you need to put in a large amount to make a profit when the quotes move up or down. Supposedly if they have put in all the amount upfront, their trading options are limited. And the liquidity in the market goes out of the window. The banks and traders cannot make a profit with the limited amount of money available at their disposal. So what they would do is borrow from somebody else, so why not the broker itself in this case maybe the forex company, and execute the trades. So it helps everybody. Forex companies make their profit from the fees, more the trades done, more the fees and hence more profit. Traders get to put their fingers in many pies and so their chances of making profits increases. So everybody is happy.

negative: You will likely need to open an account in another EU country, like a broker operating out of France, Britain or Germany, to get the best options.  If you are comfortable using an english language site and interface, I highly recommend Interactive Brokers as they let you trade in many markets simultaneously, have simple currency conversion, and great tools.  But, they are geared toward active traders so you might be better with a more retail oriented broker if you are new to trading stocks. There are many options.  Here is a list to start with:

negative: There is no country tag, so I will answer the question generally. Is it possible...? Yes, it's possible and common. Is it wise? Ask Barings Bank whether it's a good idea to allow speculative investing.


query: Do I need a new EIN since I am hiring employees for my LLC?

positive: I called the IRS (click here for IRS contact info) and they said I do not need to get a new EIN.  I could have just filed the appropriate employer federal tax return (940/941) and then the filing requirements would have been updated.  But while I was on the phone, they just updated the filing requirements for my LLC so I am all good now (I still need to file the correct form and make the correct payments, etc. but I can use this same EIN going forward). Disclaimer: Don't trust me (or this answer) for tax advice (your situation may be different).  The IRS person on the phone was very helpful so I recommend calling them if you are in a similar situation.  FYI, I have found calling the IRS to always be very helpful.

negative: Do NOT use the same LLC.  By default he would own 1/2 of the DBA so you would have to hire an attorney to section it off.  Then you have to worry about him changing his mind later and suing you if the DBA is sucessful.  Not to mention the EIN controls the cash and tax flow and the DBA would be using the same EIN so it gets really murky.  Don't even consider it, just create a new LLC.

negative: Having an EIN does not make the LLC a corporation -- your business can have an EIN even when treated like a sole proprietorship. An EIN is required to have a Individual 401(k), for example. But you can still be an LLC, taxed as a sole proprietor, and have a 401(k). You would need to file a Form 2553 with the IRS to elect S Corporation status. If you don't do that, you're still treated as a disregarded LLC. Whether or not you should make the election is another question.

negative: The LLC will not be liable for anything, it is disregarded for tax purposes. If you're doing any work while in the US, or you (or your spouse) are a green card holder or a US citizen - then you (not the LLC) may be liable, may be required to file, pay, etc. Unless you're employing someone, or have more than one member in your LLC, you do not need an EIN. Re the bank - whatever you want. If you want you can open an account in an American bank. If you don't - don't. Who cares?

negative: If I hire someone in Utah to do sales for me over the phone, and he   works out of his home, am I required to register an LLC or file my   current one as a foreign entity in Utah? Yes, since you've established presence in Utah. You'll register your current LLC in Utah, no point creating another one. If my sales guy, or I, call businesses in, say, Florida, and sell a   few businesses our services for online work like maybe a website   design, etc. Are we required to file our LLC In Florida as either a   new LLC or a foreign one? No, you need to register where you (your company, including your employees or physical offices) are physically present. You don't need to register in any state you ship products or provide services to. If no-one of your company's employees is present in Florida and you don't have an office/rent a storage there - then you have no presence in Florida. If you actually go there to provide the services - then you do.

negative: "Is it possible if (After getting EIN) I change my LLC type   (disregarded entity or C type or S type or corporation or change in   number of members) for tax saving ? You marked your question as ""real-estate"", so I'm guessing you're holding rental properties in your LLC. That means that you will not be able to qualify for S-Corp, only C-Corp treatment. That in turn means that you'll be subject to double taxation and corporate tax rate. I fail to see what tax savings you're expecting in this situation. But yes, you can do it, if you so wish. I suggest you talk to a licensed tax adviser (EA/CPA licensed in your State) before you make any changes, because it will be nearly impossible to reverse the check-the-box election once made (for at least 5 years)."

negative: You should not form a company in the U.S. simply to get the identification number required for a W-8BEN form. By establishing a U.S.-based company, you'd be signing yourself up for a lot of additional hassle!  You don't need that.  You're a European business, not a U.S. business.  Selling into the U.S. does not require you to have a U.S. company.  (You may want to consider what form of business you ought to have in your home country, however.) Anyway, to address your immediate concern, you should just get an EIN only.  See businessready.ca - what is a W8-BEN?.  Quote: [...]   There are other reasons to   fill out the W8-BEN but for most of   you it is to make sure they don’t hold   back 30% of your payment which, for a   small company, is a big deal. [...]   How do I get one of these EIN US taxpayer identification numbers? EIN stands for Employer Identification   Number and is your permanent number   and can be used for most of your   business needs (e.g. applying for   business licenses, filing taxes when   applicable, etc).  You can apply by   filling out the Form SS-4 but the   easier, preferred way is online. However, I also found at IRS.gov - Online EIN: Frequently Asked Questions the following relevant tidbit: Q. Are any entity types excluded from   applying for an EIN over the Internet?   A. [...]   If you were incorporated outside of the United States or the U.S.   territories, you cannot apply for an   EIN online. Please call us at  (267)   941-1099 (this is not a toll free   number) between the hours of 6:00 a.m.   to 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time. So, I suggest you call the IRS and describe your situation:  You are a European-based business (sole proprietor?) selling products to a U.S.-based client and would like to request an EIN so you can supply your client with a W-8BEN. The IRS should be able to advise you of the correct course of action. Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.  Consider seeking professional advice.

negative: This answer assumes you're asking about how to handle this issue in the USA. I generally downvote questions that ask about a tax/legal issue and don't bother providing the jurisdiction. In my opinion it is extremely rude. Seeing that you applied for an LLC, I think that you somehow consider it as a relevant piece of information. You also attribute some importance to the EIN which has nothing to do with your question. I'm going to filter out that noise. As an individual/sole-proprietor (whether under LLC or not), you cannot use fiscal years, only calendar years. It doesn't matter if you decide to have your LLC taxed as S-Corp as well, still calendar year. Only C-Corp can have a fiscal year, and you probably don't want to become a C-Corp. So the year ends on December 31, and whether accrual or cash - you can only deduct expenses you incurred until then. Also, you must declare the income you got until then, which in your case will be the full amount of funding - again regardless of whether you decided to be cash-based or accrual based. So the main thing you need to do is to talk to a licensed tax adviser (EA/CPA licensed in your state) and learn about the tax law relevant to your business and its implications on your actions. There may be some ways to make it work better, and there are some ways in which you can screw yourself up completely in your scenario, so do get a professional advice.

negative: "I work in the legal services industry, selling these products for a competitor of theirs who shall remain nameless.  The LLC filing itself in most cases is a simple fill in the blank form. You can likely file yourself either online or through the mail, depending on the state. Only a handful require an original document.  You can apply for the EIN for free on the IRS website and usually have it within a few minutes. If you already have someone assisting with your annual LLC taxes you wouldn't need their services for that either. If their compliance kit involves any business licensing research, it may be worthwhile - but you can also order those services a la carte from vendors like LLX and BusinessLicenses.com.  What you're really paying for is the registered agent service - the address for public record with the state so they know where to send any service of process - and you're paying for the convenience of a ""one stop shop"" instead of handling all the legwork yourself."

negative: Good answer.  I set up an S-Corp on my own, but I intend to transfer our intellectual property to an LLC at a later date.  I would say hiring an attorney to draft an operating agreement is a must and worth the expense.

negative: Your question mixes up different things.  Your LLC business type is determined by how you organize your business at the state level.  Separately, you can also elect to be treated in one of several different status for federal taxation. (Often this automatically changes your tax status at the state level too, but you need to check that with your state tax authority.) It is true that once you have an EIN, you can apply to be taxed as a C Corp or S Corp.  Whether or not that will result in tax savings will depend on the details of your business.  We won't be able to answer that for you.  You should get a professional advisor if you need help making that determination.

negative: "I expect the company wanted to pay you for a product (on a purchase order) rather than as  a contract laborer. Whatever. Would they be willing to re-issue the check to you as a sole proprietor of a business named ABC Consulting (or anything like that)? You can register your sole proprietor business with the state using a ""Doing Business As"" (DBA, or fictitious name), and then open the bank account for your business using the check provided by the customer as the first deposit. (There is likely a smaller registration fee for the DBA.) If they won't re-issue the check and you have to go the LLC route... Scrounge up $125 doing odd jobs or borrowing from a friend or parents. Seriously, anyone can earn that amount of money in a week or two. Besides the filing fee for the LLC, your bank may require you to provide an Operating Agreement (which is not required by the State). The Operating Agreement can be simple, or more complex if you have a partner (even if it's a spouse). If you do have a partner, it is essential to have such an agreement because it would specify the responsibilities and benefits allocated to each partner, particularly in the event of equity distributions (taking money out of the business, or liquidating and ending the LLC). There are websites that will provide you a boilerplate form for Operating Agreements. But if your business is anything more than just single member LLC, you should pay an attorney to draw one up for you so the wording is right. It's a safeguard against potential future lawsuits. And, while we're at it, don't forget to obtain a EIN (equivalent to a SSN) from the IRS for your LLC. There's no cost, but you'll have to have it to file taxes as a business for every year the LLC exists and has income. Good luck!"

negative: Can I work on 1099 from my own company instead of on W2? The reason is   on W2 I can't deduct my commute, Health Insurance and some other   expenses while on 1099 I think I can able do that. Since I am going to   client place to work not at my own office, I am not sure whether I   should able to do that or not. If you have LLC, unless you elected to tax it as a corporation, you need neither 1099 nor W2. For tax purposes the LLC is disregarded. So it is, from tax perspective, a sole proprietorship (or partnership, if multiple members). Being a W2 employee of your own LLC is a bad idea. For all these above expenses, which can I use company's debit/credit   card or I need to use only my personal debit/credit card? It would be better to always use a business account for business purposes. Doesn't matter much for tax per se, but will make your life easier in case of an audit or a legal dispute (limited liability protection may depend on it). If I work on 1099, I guess I need to file some reasonable taxes on   quarterly basis instead of filing at year end. If so, how do I pay my   tax on quarterly basis to IRS? I mean which forms should I file and   how to pay tax? Unless you're a W2 employee, you need to do quarterly estimate payments using form 1040-ES. If you are a W2 employee (even for a different job, and even if it is not you, but your spouse with whom you're filing jointly) - you can adjust your/spouse's withholding using form W4 to cover the additional tax liability. This is, IMHO, a better way than paying estimates. There are numerous questions on this, search the site or ask another one for details.

negative: To answer your question 2, I can't think of any advantage of using your SSN over an EIN, but there are some advantages to having an EIN as a sole proprietor. So depending on the answer to question 1, you may want to consider either keeping your existing EIN or getting a new one, even if you are allowed to use your SSN instead.

negative: "I'm no lawyer and no expert, so take my remarks as entertainment only. Also see this question. If you have a U.S. SSN which is eligible for work, they may be able to pay you on 1099 basis with your SSN as a sole proprietor, unless they have some personal reason for avoiding that. So perhaps try asking about that specifically. HR policies can be weird and tricky, maybe a nudge in the right direction will help. Not What You Asked: regardless, I might recommend you register as an LLC and get an EIN (sort of SSN for companies) for a variety of reasons. It's called a ""limited liability"" company for a reason. You may also have an easier time reaping various business-related rewards, like writing off expenses. If you do so, consider a state with no income tax like Wyoming. (Or, for convenience sake, WA if you live in BC, or maybe NH if you live in Ontario.. etc.)"

negative: I am from India. I visited US 6-8 times on business VISA and then started 2 Member LLC. Myself and My wife as LLC Members. We provide Online Training to american students from India. Also Got EIN number. Never employed any one. Do i need to pay taxes? Students from USA pays online by Paypal and i am paying taxes in India. Do i need to pay Taxes in US? DO i need to file the Tax returns? Please guide me. I formed LLC in 2010. I opened an Office-taken Virtual office for 75 USD per month to open LLC in 2010. As there is physical virtual address, am i liable for US taxes? All my earning is Online, free lancing.

negative: "There are a few sites out there that can give you some reasoning behind the request. LegalZoom, for instance.  To quote the LZ doc in case the link dies: Employee vs. Independent Contractor If a worker is an employee, the employer is responsible for paying   Social Security, unemployment insurance, Medicare, and possibly other   costs like workers' compensation insurance for the employee; at the   end of the tax year, the employer is responsible for compiling all   necessary payroll reports, including W-2 forms. If a worker is an independent contractor, the employer is not   responsible for any of the above taxes or payments, and the only added   paperwork is the issuing of a 1099 to the independent contractor at   the end of the tax year, if he or she has made more than $600 with the   employer. As Kent suggested, you should speak with an attorney (really you need one if setting up an LLC). There are a lot of companies out there these days that try to classify people as contractors rather than full-time employees as it gets them out of paying benefits and dealing with taxes. This is being heavily cracked down on, and several ""contractor"" employees are winning lawsuits to get full-time status.  If you are truly acting as a contractor, then setting up an LLC can help with a few items such as taxes and protection on certain business aspects (see comments below regarding this). It's easy and relatively cheap (cost me about $250 with extra legal advice tacked on). If you are reporting directly to a manager with the company, or really working in any way that isn't consistent with the definition of a contractor, then I'd turn down the offer and ask to be made a FT employee.  Additional information: https://www.sba.gov/content/hire-contractor-or-employee"

negative: You're confusing a lot of things here. Company B LLC will have it's sales run under Company A LLC, and cease operating as a separate entity These two are contradicting each other. If B LLC ceases to exist - it is not going to have it's sales run under A LLC, since there will be no sales to run for a non-existent company. What happens is that you merge B LLC into A LLC, and then convert A LLC into S Corp. So you're cancelling the EIN for B LLC, you're cancelling the EIN for A LLC - because both entities cease to exist. You then create a EIN for A Corp, which is the converted A LLC, and you create a DBA where A Corp DBA B Shop. You then go to the bank and open the account for A Corp DBA B Shop with the EIN you just created for A Corp. Get a better accountant. Before you convert to S-Corp.

negative: "Absolutely! Superstar employees are a conceived threat to management and managers who know they they are not to the level of those employees and those employees may gain too much power, etc. Pure political games.  Also, once you get rid of a superstar employee, you need to hire 10 other people to replace that person... who will make a big mess... so you need even more managers/management and also more employees.  It's very simple.  The only reason superstar employees keep their job is the fear of a big mess if they are let go.  Also, NEVER EVER(!) promote those superstar employees, despite the urgent need for their talent to be transferred to others and use their talent in higher up positions.  I am a Superstar employee, 20 years in my company, know things and systems that no one else knows and systems I created are responsible to 90% of sales. I am not kidding, I am not making up things and, yes, I can brag. I do the work of at least 10 ""normal"" employees.  Despite that, I would have been fired long time ago.  I did not and will not... for next 4 years... until my planned retirement, when I want to get fired.  I am smart to not get fired because I limit the ton and arguments I have with the ""enemies"". I am also very passive-aggressive. I found it much better to let them go their way and watch them and ""help"" them fail. Why do they fail? Because I know they right way, and because I know the right way, they will automatically select another way which is doomed.  **Think Dilbert! This comics are actual true and accurate representation of what happens in almost all companies.**  Oh, the stories I can tell you! I am 20 years in the company, and many many ""brilliant"" managers came and let go.  Lastly, I am well respected in the company, but the ""enemies"" who don't like me make it not so nice at times for me.  P/S: an even bigger superstar employee than me, a friend of mine, a different company, was let go because of politics. He told me that his work is now done by 16 new employees and a big mess still going on. I am totally believe him and not surprised at all."

negative: Yes, but make sure you issue a 1099 to these freelancers by 1/31/2016 or you may forfeit your ability to claim the expenses. You will probably need to collect a W-9 from each freelancer but also check with oDesk as they may have the necessary paperwork already in place for this exact reason.  Most importantly, consult with a trusted CPA to ensure you are completing all necessary forms correctly and following current IRS rules and regulations.  PS - I do this myself for my own business and it's quite simple and straight forward.

negative: Supposedly this also means that I am free from having to pay   California corporate taxes? Not in the slightest. Since you (the corporate employee) reside in CA - the corporation is doing business in CA and is liable for CA taxes. Or, does this mean I am required to pay both CA taxes and Delaware   fees? (In this case, minimal, just a paid agent from incorporate.com) I believe DE actually does have corporate taxes, check it out. But the bottom line is yes, you're liable for both CA and DE costs of doing corporate business (income taxes, registered agents, CA corp fee, etc). Is there any benefit at all for me to be a Delaware C-Corp or should I   dissolve and start over. Or just re-incorporate as California LLC Unless you intend to go public anytime soon or raise money from VCs/investors - there's no benefit whatsoever in incorporating in DE. You should seek a legal advice with an attorney, of course, since benefits are legal issues (usually related to choosing jurisdiction for litigation etc). If you're a one-person freelancer, doing C-Corp was not the best decision as well. Tax-wise you'd be much better off with a S-Corp, or a LLC - both pass-through and have no (Federal) entity-level taxes. Corporate rates are generally higher than individual rates, and less deductions can be taken. In California, check with a CPA/EA licensed in the State, since both S-Corp and LLC would be taxed, and taxed differently.

negative: I know that there are a lot service on the internet helping to form an LLC online with a fee around $49. Is it neccessarry to pay them to have an LLC or I can do that myself? No, you can do it yourself. The $49 is for your convenience, but there's nothing they can do that you wouldn't be able to do on your own. What I need to know and what I need to do before forming an LLC? You need to know that LLC is a legal structure that is designed to provide legal protections. As such, it is prudent to talk to a legal adviser, i.e.: a Virginia-licensed attorney. Is it possible if I hire some employees who living in India? Is the salary for my employees a expense? Do I need to claim this expense? This, I guess, is entirely unrelated to your questions about LLC. Yes, it is possible. The salary you pay your employees is your expense. You need to claim it, otherwise you'd be inflating your earnings which in certain circumstances may constitute fraud. What I need to do to protect my company? For physical protection, you'd probably hire a security guard. If you're talking about legal protections, then again - talk to a lawyer. What can I do to reduce taxes? Vote for a politician that promises to reduce taxes. Most of them never deliver though. Otherwise you can do what everyone else is doing - tax planning. That is - plan ahead your expenses, time your invoices and utilize tax deferral programs etc. Talk to your tax adviser, who should be a EA or a CPA licensed in Virginia. What I need to know after forming an LLC? You'll need to learn what are the filing requirements in your State (annual reports, tax reports, business taxes, sales taxes, payroll taxes, etc). Most are the same for same proprietors and LLCs, so you probably will not be adding to much extra red-tape. Your attorney and tax adviser will help you with this, but you can also research yourself on the Virginia department of corporations/State department (whichever deals with LLCs).

negative: Yes, absolutely she can. I come across small businesses from sole props to corps and llc who have their spouses employed. One thing to note is that the business won't need Workers Comp insurance if you're the only employee, if you hire anyone else you will need it.

negative: "My late answer is: Be aware of the difference of being a contractor and being an employee.  I am not sure of the laws in Canada, but in the United States lots of small companies like to hire people as ""contractors"" but make them work under rules that fall into employee.   The business is trying to avoid paying payroll taxes, which is fine, but make sure you know your rights and responsibilities as a contractor vs employee. You can check with your state's Bureau of Labor and Industry in the US, but I am sure wherever you are from there is a government agency to do the same thing."

negative: You can ask the client to pay you through the LLC. In that case you should invoice them from the LLC and have them pay the invoice. If they pay you personally, you can always make a capital contribution to the LLC and use that money to buy equipment. The tax implications for a single person LLC providing professional services are the same for you either way: income is income whether it's from your LLC or an employer. It's different for the employer if they are giving you a W2 vs a 1099. So it doesn't matter much for you. If the LLC is buying equipment, make sure you get enough revenue through the LLC to at least offset those expenses.

negative: The short answer is you are not required to.  The longer answer depends on whether you are referring to your organization as a sole proprietorship in your state, or for federal taxation.  For federal tax purposes, I would suggest filing each side job as a separate Sch C though.  The IRS uses the information you provide about your sole proprietorship to determine whether or not your categorization of expenses makes sense for the type of business you are.  This information is used by the IRS to help them determine who to audit.  So, if you are a service based business, but you are reporting cost of goods sold, you are likely to be audited.

negative: The LLC will file its own business taxes which may or may not have business level income and expenses.  At the end, the LLC will issue Schedule K-1 tax forms to the members, that based on their percentage ownership, will reflect the percentage share of the income/losses.    From an individual standpoint, the members need only worry about the K-1 form they receive.  This has quite a few pass-through categories from the LLC, but the Income/Loss may be the only used one.  The individual will likely include the K-1 by filing a Schedule-E along with their 1040 form.  The 1040 Schedule-E has some ability to deduct expenses as an individual. Generally it's best not to commingle expenses.  Additional schedule-E expense reporting is generally for non-reimbursed, but related business expenses.  If a member paid certain fees for the LLC, it is better for the LLC to reimburse him and then deduct the expense properly.  Schedule-E is on a non-LLC, personal level.

negative: "While she can certainly get an LLC or EIN, it isn't necessarily required or needed.  She can file as a sole-proprietor on her (or your joint) taxes by filling out a schedule-C addition to the 1040.  Any income or losses will pass through to your existing income situation (from W-2's and such). The general requirement for filing as a business in this regard has nothing to do with any minimum income, revenue, or size.  It is simply the intent to treat it as a business, and unlike a hobby, the overall intent to earn a profit eventually. If you're currently reporting the 1099-MISC income, but not deducting the expenses, this would be a means for you to offset the income with the expenses you mentioned (and possibly other legitimate ones).  There is no ""2% AGI"" restriction for schedule-C."

negative: "According to IRS Publication 1635, Understanding your EIN (PDF), under ""What is an EIN?"" on page 2: Caution: An EIN is for use in connection with your business activities only. Do not use your EIN in place of your social security number (SSN). As you say your EIN is for your business as a sole proprietor, I would also refer to Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business, under ""Identification Numbers"": Social security number (SSN).   Generally, use your SSN as your taxpayer identification number. You must put this number on each of your individual income tax forms, such as Form 1040 and its schedules.  Employer identification number (EIN).   You must also have an EIN to use as a taxpayer identification number if you do either of the following. Pay wages to one or more employees. File pension or excise tax returns. If you must have an EIN, include it along with your SSN on your Schedule C or C-EZ as instructed.  While I can't point to anything specifically about bank accounts, in general the guidance I see is that your SSN is used for your personal stuff, and you have an EIN for use in your business where needed. You may be able to open a bank account listing the EIN as the taxpayer identification number on the account. I don't believe there's a legal distinction between what makes something a ""business"" account or not, though a bank may have different account offerings for different purposes, and only offer some of them to entities rather than individuals. If you want to have a separate account for your business transactions, you may want them to open it in the name of your business and they may allow you to use your EIN on it. Whether you can do this for one of their ""personal"" account offerings would be up to the bank. I don't see any particular advantages to using your EIN on a bank account for an individual, though, and I could see it causing a bit of confusion with the bank if you're trying to do so in a way that isn't one of their ""normal"" account types for a business. As a sole proprietor, there really isn't any distinction between you and your business. Any interest income is taxable to you in the same way. But I don't think there's anything stopping you legally other than perhaps your particular bank's policy on such things. I would suggest contacting your bank (or trying several banks) to get more information on what account offerings they have available and what would best fit you and your business's needs."

negative: No. When you file your Articles of Organization, simply state that your business will operate under the law. You don't need to give any further specification.

negative: "You can file an LLC yourself in most states, although it might be helpful to use a service if you're not sure what to do to ensure it is correct.  I filed my LLC here in Colorado online with the Secretary of State's office, which provided the fill-in-the-blank forms and made it easy. In the U.S., taxation of an LLC is ""pass-through"", meaning the LLC itself does not have any tax liability.  Taxes are based on what you take out of the LLC as distributions to yourself, so you pay personal income tax on that. There are many good books on how to form and then operate an LLC, and I personally like NoLo (link to their web site) because they cater to novices. As for hiring people in India, I can't speak to that, so hopefully someone else can answer that specific topic. As for what you need to know about how to run it, I'll refer back to the NoLo books and web site."

negative: "Can the companies from USA give job to me (I am from New Zealand)? Job as being employee - may be tricky. This depends on the labor laws in New Zealand, but most likely will trigger ""nexus"" clause and will force the employer to register in the country, which most won't want to do. Instead you can be hired as a contractor (i.e.: being self-employed, from NZ legal perspective). If so, what are the legal documents i have to provide to the USA for any taxes? If you're employed as a contractor, you'll need to provide form W8-BEN to your US employer on which you'll have to certify your tax status. Unless you're a US citizen/green card holder, you're probably a non-US person for tax purposes, and as such will not be paying any tax in the US as long as you work in New Zealand. If you travel to the US for work, things may become tricky, and tax treaties may be needed. Will I have to pay tax to New Zealand Government? Most likely, as a self-employed. Check how this works locally. As for recommendations, since these are highly subjective opinions that may change over time, they're considered off-topic here. Check on Yelp, Google, or any local NZ professional review site."

negative: "LLC is, as far as I know, just a US thing, so I'm assuming that you are in the USA. Update for clarification: other countries do have similar concepts, but I'm not aware of any country that uses the term LLC, nor any other country that uses the single-member LLC that is disregarded for income tax purposes that I'm referring to here (and that I assume the recruiter also was talking about). Further, LLCs vary by state. I only have experience with California, so some things may not apply the same way elsewhere. Also, if you are located in one state but the client is elsewhere, things can get more complex. First, let's get one thing out of the way: do you want to be a contractor, or an employee? Both have advantage, and especially in the higher-income areas, contractor can be more beneficial for you. Make sure that if you are a contractor, your rate must be considerably higher than as employee, to make up for the benefits you give up, as well as the FICA taxes and your expense of maintaining an LLC (in California, it costs at least $800/year, plus legal advice, accounting, and various other fees etc.). On the other hand, oftentimes, the benefits as an employee aren't actually worth all that much when you are in high income brackets. Do pay attention to health insurance - that may be a valuable benefit, or it may have such high deductibles that you would be better off getting your own or paying the penalty for going uninsured. Instead of a 401(k), you can set up an IRA (update or various other options), and you can also replace all the other benefits. If you decide that being an employee is the way to go, stop here. If you decide that being a contractor is a better deal for you, then it is indeed a good idea to set up an LLC. You actually have three fundamental options: work as an individual (the legal term is ""sole proprietorship""), form a single-member LLC disregarded for income tax purposes, or various other forms of incorporation. Of these, I would argue that the single-member LLC combines the best of both worlds: taxation is almost the same as for sole proprietorship, the paperwork is minimal (a lot less than any other form of incorporation), but it provides many of the main benefits of incorporating. There are several advantages. First, as others have already pointed out, the IRS and Department of Labor scrutinize contractor relationships carefully, because of companies that abused this status on a massive scale (Uber and now-defunct Homejoy, for instance, but also FedEx and other old-economy companies). One of the 20 criteria they use is whether you are incorporated or not. Basically, it adds to your legal credibility as a contractor. Another benefit is legal protection. If your client (or somebody else) sues ""you"", they can usually only sue the legal entity they are doing business with. Which is the LLC. Your personal assets are safe from judgments. That's why Donald Trump is still a billionaire despite his famous four bankruptcies (which I believe were corporate, not personal, bankrupcies). Update for clarification Some people argue that you are still liable for your personal actions. You should consult with a lawyer about the details, but most business liabilities don't arise from such acts. Another commenter suggested an E&O policy - a very good idea, but not a substitute for an LLC. An LLC does require some minimal paperwork - you need to set up a separate bank account, and you will need a professional accounting system (not an Excel spreadsheet). But if you are a single member LLC, the paperwork is really not a huge deal - you don't need to file a separate federal tax return. Your income will be treated as if it was personal income (the technical term is that the LLC is disregarded for IRS tax purposes). California still does require a separate tax return, but that's only two pages or so, and unless you make a large amount, the tax is always $800. That small amount of paperwork is probably why your recruiter recommended the LLC, rather than other forms of incorporation. So if you want to be a contractor, then it sounds like your recruiter gave you good advice. If you want to be an employee, don't do it. A couple more points, not directly related to the question, but hopefully generally helpful: If you are a contractor (whether as sole proprietor or through an LLC), in most cities you need a business license. Not only that, but you may even need a separate business license in every city you do business (for instance, in the city where your client is located, even if you don't live there). Business licenses can range from ""not needed"" to a few dollars to a few hundred dollars. In some cities, the business license fee may also depend on your income. And finally, one interesting drawback of a disregarded LLC vs. sole proprietorship as a contractor has to do with the W-9 form and your Social Security Number. Generally, when you work for somebody and receive more than $600/year, they need to ask you for your Social Security Number, using form W-9. That is always a bit of a concern because of identity theft. The IRS also recognizes a second number, the EIN (Employer Identification Number). This is basically like an SSN for corporations. You can also apply for one if you are a sole proprietor. This is a HUGE benefit because you can use the EIN in place of your SSN on the W-9. Instant identity theft protection. HOWEVER, if you have a disregarded LLC, the IRS says that you MUST use your SSN; you cannot use your EIN! Update: The source for that information is the W-9 instructions; it specifically only excludes LLCs."