Matthew Miner's Basic-ish BlogMatthew Miner's Blog

Sometimes I might say something

Landscaping is a good job that many people do either full-time or on the side. However, people aren't always willing to pay you for providing them your services after the work's been done. Many landscapers are small enterprises that may not have a great process to ensure payment and may not know what their rights are under the law.

One idea is the possibility of filing a mechanic's lien. These allow people get a security interest in the property for certain work they do on a property. Typicall...

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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act added 26 USC § 199A, which gives a 20% deduction for taxpayers' "qualified business income." This was intended to give small business owners a deduction to match the corporate tax cut. However, it does not apply to all small business owners, and reading the law and determining who qualifies can be quite confusing.

There are many nuances with this law involving earnings caps, business types, and other random things that you should go over with your accountant and/or...

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Sometimes you want to operate under a name different than what you named your LLC. This is allowed as long as you file a DBA with the Secretary of State, letting everyone know about your assumed name. This can easily be done online.

However, what if that name is already taken? You've negotiated its transfer, but how do you go about actually doing it?

Assumed names in Illinois must be "distinguishable". Therefore, you can't just apply for the assumed name with the new LLC. What do you do?

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