I am starting a business with a similar model as to the place I was working before. We offered a small discount for bulk purchasing.
If I invoice something at full price and the customer pays a discounted rate, is the discount considered an expense to me that could be deducted?
>>1504389
>If I invoice something at full price and the customer pays a discounted rate, is the discount considered an expense to me that could be deducted?
No. Discounts are a contra account to gross sales. You can net it against gross sales if you recorded the sale at full price, or simply record it directly into your net sales (revenue) total. Either way, it's not promotional and not a deduction.
>>1504400
I will be contracting with franchisees and the parent company has a hold harmless agreement that I use. I do not have an LLC yet, and will probably form one anyways, but is it a problem just having people make payments out to me directly?
>>1504412
Dude its financial unwise to do this without an registered company.
>>1504420
for liability reasons? it's only a few months i figures i would do it at the start of 2017.
Is legalzoom ok to use?
>>1504412
I don;t understand your question. It sounds like you're serving as a middleman/warehouseman, supplying retailers (franchisees) with product sourced from a supplier (parent company). Of course you can be paid directly, unless you're actually acting as agent of the parent company.
>>1504445
It is financial reporting....most financial advisors work as franchisees. They are contracting some data entry stuff to an outside person. The brokerage firm requires each party to sign a hold harmless agreement and the advisor is responsible for all materials given to clients.
I want to start right away and figured I would just be a sole prop for the first few months.
>>1504471
Ah, you never said it was professional services. Doesn't change the answer though.
Sole proprietorship is fine. Limited liability is a bit of a meme because most people don't take the time and incur the expense to actually make their corporation/LLC sufficiently separate to actually incur the benefits. You might consider a professional corporation (PC) if you qualify in your state, established as an S corp for the passthrough treatment. Best of both worlds. But if not, then don;t worry about it.
>>1504487
I am not a licensed individual, I don't think I would qualify. I do not have a series 7 or 66, nor could I operate with as little overhead as I do now if I did have those.
It's just a small thing but lots of potential....A $95 technology fee each month, purchasing a computer that has a TPM, paying a one time $350 fee for the company MS Office license. No other overhead....no need for loans or anything.
>>1504526
You can set up an LLC very cheap (unless you're in California) and easy. I'd say do it from the get-go so you don't have to change everything later.
Just register with your state and open a bank account with the LLC. Get an EIN. Get a checkbook for the LLC. Put LLC on your website , invoices, biz cards etc.
Boom you're an LLC.
When you start making over 60k elect to be taxed as an S Corp.
you can create an asset account that serves as the company insuring itself for potential future losses. This money can be considered a deductible expense during tax season. However, you will already pay less tax because of your reduced gross profit from the loss.