Business News

If your child takes a job this summer, you’ll want to know about the following tax issues:

For 2007, your child can earn as much as $5,350 and not pay a dime in federal income taxes.  If your child’s earnings won’t exceed this amount, consider having the child claim “student – exempt” when completing the federal withholding allowance certificate (Form W-4). 

It’s more than likely that couples considering remarriage will do so with assets of greater value than ever before.  If so, you may want to consider a pre-nuptial agreement to sort out issues and ensure that what you bring to the new marriage goes where you want them to go in the event of divorce or death.  Here are a few things to think about and understand prior to your marriage.

After years of representing clients in numerous divorce and other family law proceedings, I have developed a system that can help individuals avoid the high cost of litigation and reduce stress in the process.

photos by  Dena Coleman

Their doors are graciously open and now it’s up to you to check out several new Santa Clarita businesses 

With the constantly changing business environment there are some things to consider.  The aspect of a global business environment impacts every business, even if they only serve local customers.

The big fines just keep on coming as the Internal Revenue Service cracks down on abusive tax shelters.  This time Sidley Austin, the successor firm of the merger in 2001 between Sidley & Austin and Brown & Wood, will pay $39.4 million in penalties for promoting abusive tax shelters and failing to comply with tax shelter registration requirements.

Dissatisfied with the dwindling arts curriculum in schools across the country, a young Valencia filmmaker and mother set out to make a difference.  Using her film company, Kudiville, as a springboard, Kimberly Sanders started Filmmakers and Entertainers Helping Enhance School Arts (FEHESA).
FEHESA helps preserve and promote arts in the schools. 

Litigation Sucks.  Just ask anyone who has been through it or is going through it.  If you are involved in litigation, chances are you weren’t very successful in getting the issue resolved by talking to the other party.  That is why you probably hired a lawyer.

Many of us already know what a domain name is and use one as the primary identifier for our websites.  Domain names were created to simplify the source destination location of computers on networks and the Internet by providing a more memorable name than using the computer’s IP address.  So rather than having to remember 201.134.10.5/somefolder, we can now easily remember it as www.mywebsite.com .

Do record low mortgage rates have you dreaming of buying a vacation home?  Are you also imagining you can cover the cost by renting your villa?  Before those dreams turn into nightmares, consider the complex tax rules that apply.

What used to work doesn’t work anymore.  It’s not about the sales person, it’s about the buyer.  Buyers are very sophisticated now and expect salespeople to align themselves to the buyers’ needs.  Selling isn’t telling.  It’s all about asking questions and knowing the right ones to ask.  
Imagine walking into a doctor’s office and being told right away that you have a cold and need cold medicine.  

If you own your own business, think about employing your child for the summer.  In addition to keeping your student busy learning valuable workplace skills, you’ll reduce your taxes.

Their doors are graciously open and now it’s up to you to check out several new Santa Clarita businesses.

Did you know that a scientific study found that actual spoken words account for only 7 percent of a communicated message?  And that the tone used in saying those words account for another 38 percent?  And what about the other 55 percent?  That would be your body language.

You are married and your marriage isn’t doing too great. You start wondering whether you are going to be responsible for your spouse’s debts if you decide to split up. The general rule is that the community estate (meaning your joint property) is liable for a debt incurred by either of you before or during the marriage and prior to separation.  This rule applies whether or not you are a party to the debt.  This means that generally, even if a judgment is only in your spouse’s name, you are still liable even though your name wasn’t even on the contract and you were not a party to the transaction.

In the last year in Los Angeles there has been a feeding frenzy over frozen yogurt.  A new chain of stores called Pinkberry has created a product that has customers traveling from miles away and then standing in lines that frequently go outside the store.  Pinkberry’s frozen yogurt has a distinctive sweet-sour taste that can be topped with imaginative ingredients like Fruity Pebbles cereal. 

...Or dinner, for that matter.  Free food, gifts or information can be tempting at times.  Even I love the word free. But, not when it comes to money.  To be told you can have stock market returns with absolutely no risk, when it just isn’t so, should be a crime.  To believe it and then discover you’re making about four percent per year is a little disheartening. 

When one spouse files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, all marital property becomes property of the bankruptcy estate and is liquidated for the benefit of the creditors.  The debtor and his spouse retain all exempt property and the non-filing spouse retains his or her separate property.  The non-dischargeable debt, such as taxes and student loans, remain the responsibility of both spouses, but the spouse who did not file for bankruptcy is solely responsible for any debt discharged by the bankruptcy of the other spouse.