It’s one thing to start a small business. It’s another to manage the finances. There is a lot to consider when wrapping up your end-of-year tax return, and it’s much different than handling your personal taxes.

Thankfully, there are some not-so-complicated hacks out there that could save you money and make the process easier to manage. Here are five tips you may not have known about your small business taxes.

Tax Credits vs. Tax Deductions

What many people don’t know is that there is a difference between tax credits and tax deductions. Usually, we think about various “write-offs” that can be used to lower our overall tax return, such as donations or office supplies. But most likely, you’ll save more money with tax credits than deductions.

If you want to reduce the amount of taxes you owe, a tax credit will be the best bang for your buck. It’s based on the overall amount of taxes you owe at the end of the year. Tax deductions, on the other hand, lower how you are taxed on your income. For small businesses, it usually ends up saving you more, in the long run, to focus on your available tax credits.

Keep Track and Save Your Receipts

The important thing to remember is that you can either do tax credits or tax deductions, but you can’t do both. If you are planning on doing deductions, you won’t want to get lazy with record keeping. Make sure to save all of your receipts and keep track of every expense. There are apps you can use that will help you take inventory of everything and keep it organized so you won’t be scrambling come tax season.

There are more available deductions than you might think, but not everything you purchase for the company is permitted. This is where it gets a little tricky. Hiring a CPA will be able to make sure you are in control of your finances and aren’t mixing business with pleasure. You won’t want to receive an audit only to find out you’ve been blurring the line with your tax deductions.

Start a Retirement Plan

Contributing to a retirement plan, 401(k), or IRA are all tax-deductible. This applies to someone who may have employees or not. If you’re a freelance writer, graphic designer, or some other form of independent contractor, you may be eligible to open a 401(k). Other people who have started a small business can also opt-in to contribute to the same retirement options they provide their employees as well.

Deduct Your Car and Your Home Office

Did you know that you can deduct your vehicle as a tax write-off? Like your home office, a vehicle used for business purposes can be used as a tax deduction. While your daily commute to your office or coworking space is not deductible, drives to meetings and other business commutes are qualified. Don’t forget about maintenance on your vehicle since it’s used for your business as well, along with any parking or tolls you may have encountered on that off-site meeting.

A home office is also eligible for a tax write-off, despite the fact that you live within the space of your office. The easiest way to do this is by multiplying the square footage of your office by $5. The office space, however, cannot exceed 300 square feet. If your office is larger, you can alternatively use the percentage of your office for the entirety of your home. For example, if your home is 6,000 square feet, and your home office is 600 square feet, you are eligible for a 10% deduction.

Hire a Professional

Remember, when in doubt, you should always hire a professional to do the work for you. Handling your small business accounting can be a lot to manage in general, especially when it comes to your taxes. Hiring a CPA can save you and your business time, and they will be able to find ways to save more money than you might be able to without having their knowledge or expertise.

 

The race to field autonomous trucks has started to intensify. There are many startup companies vying for millions of dollars in research funding to make the dream of autonomous 18-wheelers a reality. With the United States freight market estimated to generate approximately 700 billion dollars annually, the competition to get the first autonomous trucks onto our nation’s highways is fierce. But truck accident lawyers fear this race to be first will come at the expense of safety.

Developing the Technology

A San Francisco based company by the name of Otto is developing driverless technology for their trucks. In 2018, one of their autonomous prototypes made a successful 120-mile journey in Colorado between Fort Collins and Denver. Otto’s proprietary driverless system has a micro-super computer that currently carries a hefty price tag of $100,000 per unit, although there are aspirations to lower the cost of the driverless system to around $10,000 per unit as demand increases and governmental policies allow driverless technology to expand onto public roadways.

Other Key Developers of Autonomous Technology

There are many companies all over the world who are in the process of developing autonomous trucking technology. Some of these companies are listed below:

• Peloton Technology. Peloton Technology has a platform under development called V2V Tech, which enables the autonomous truck to react to the actions of the vehicle in front of its path.
• The Embark Company has developed a highway auto-pilot system that uses sensors, radar, and cameras to guide the driverless truck to its destination.
• Einride is a Swedish company that is currently developing an automated electric truck that can be operated remotely or driven autonomously.
• Volvo has been in the autonomous trucking development business since the inception. In 2017, Volvo unveiled an autonomous garbage collection truck and claim they have autonomous trucks used in underground mines.
• Kodiak Robotics. This company is reportedly running automated truck deliveries between Dallas and Houston in Texas.

Are Autonomous Trucks Going to be Safer?

The idea of a vehicle cruising down the highway with no one at the wheel is a frightening concept, especially if it is an 18-wheeler. The trucking industry has historically lagged behind everyone else when it comes to truck safety technology.  Because truck accidents cause between 4,000 and 5,000 deaths annually at present, one must take pause when talking about driverless vehicles. But it is interesting to note that the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has found in studies that human error may account for up to 94% of all large truck and bus accidents.  A computer-driver truck does not need no doze, coffee, nor stretching breaks to complete a long haul without falling asleep. A computer cannot be distracted by a cell phone nor blinded by the sun. A computer also cannot ignore programmed driving rules or laws. Thus, one can also see how an accurately programmed computer might be safer than a human driver. In the end, we will just have to wait and see how accurate the programming is. Society has obviously been allowing of a high level of human error in trucking accidents, will we be as forgiving if we see the same level of computer error?

Christopher K. Fletcher is a trial attorney and Shareholder at Simmons and Fletcher, P.C. He has been practicing law since 2009. Chris was named a Rising Star by Thompson-Reuters in 2020. He has been named as one of the Top 40 Under 40 attorneys by the National Trial Lawyers from 2017 through 2020, He was also named one of Houston’s Top Lawyers by H-Texas Magazine in 2020. He attended Baylor University School of Law and graduated with a special concentration in Civil Litigation. Since then, he has dedicated his career to representing personal injury victims.

 

Each divorce is the death of a small civilization, where two people declare war on each other. Do not be fooled, as a man can lose his children, his house, and his income in a bidding war against his spouse for various reasons without holding any fundamental knowledge on the applicable rules and laws.

It is crucial to understand and consider the history of gender treatment differently in terms of custody over children, marital property, and the divorce process in general. The gender biases have turned tables over the years, but there is still an uphill battle to climb for equal rights in a man’s divorce.

If you are looking for a good Men’s Divorce Attorney to help you through your divorce, you should consider a few essential things.

Know Your Needs

Do not rush to hire a divorce attorney. Take into consideration other alternatives to traditional litigation. If you are not entangled with finances and children, you could hire a mediator to negotiate your terms and conditions. Still, if your negotiation is complicated, you will have to hire a divorce attorney to negotiate your settlement. You can even opt for a collaborative divorce, which focuses on the negotiation to preserve a co-parenting relationship. Your last resort is a litigated trial, where neither side will compromise. So you need to determine the type of divorce attorney you need based on your circumstances and make the right choice to choose an attorney that meets your expectations.

Identify Three Potential Attorneys

Do not jump to conclusions and select the first attorney you meet, as they all are not the same. Find three divorce attorneys that you can interview before making the right choice. The ideal attorney must specialize in family law, help you understand the process, have legal knowledge and experience in the specific type of divorce, solve problems creatively, communicate and negotiate well, and experience in your particular courtroom. To find such a potential men’s divorce attorney, you can ask friends for personal recommendations, go online to numerous websites, or ask your trust or estate lawyer for divorce attorney recommendations.

Interview and Research

Start your interview with an initial phone call and ask them about their specialization and experience with family law. Enquire about their rates, the type of client they typically represent, and avoid attorneys that negotiate exorbitant fees based on anticipated settlements that exceed your cost range. A few divorce attorneys provide a free consultation to discuss your approach and specific situations, so take advantage of it to gather as much legal advice as possible. The divorce process can include coach facilitators, financial experts, forensic appraisers, and parenting coordinators. Find out your divorce attorney’s access to these resources and cross-examine if any would be relevant to your case, as it will affect the overall cost. Ensure to look at the attorney’s trial record and history of success in court to track your attorney’s success in negotiation.

Select an Attorney Who Specializes in Divorce Law

Too often, divorce attorneys for men state that their specialization is in divorce when they don’t. Attorneys who practice in more than one area can trick you into believing that they are divorce attorneys. Before you decide to hire the right attorney, check his/her background, references, and credentials. The divorce attorney you select should be working with a firm specializing in family law, having had experiences with marital divorces, and should have a specialty specifically in divorce.

Go With Someone Local

You will most often cross paths with several advertisements for divorce attorneys for men where the advertisements are national and not local. Ensure that the potential attorney is local not only for convenience but also because your attorney needs to be well-versed in the divorce laws applicable to your state. Divorce laws do change on a state-by-state basis. However, your divorce attorney will need to be licensed in your state and need experience practicing in that state. If your attorney is fresh from another state and has now set up a firm in your state, they may not be very experienced in your state’s divorce laws, even if he or she is experienced in general.

Look For Red Flags

Several attorneys will inform you with information that you want to hear to close the deal as it’s just a business for them. There are no guarantees in this process, so if an attorney is making you promises, do not blindly believe in them and the false promises. If an attorney divulges confidential information based on other cases or provides information on high-profile clients, they would likely do the same to you. Ensure that the divorce attorneys you meet are respectful of other divorce attorneys. It is a sign that they won’t be respecting you either. If your attorneys are constantly distracted by emails or phone calls and cannot focus their full attention on you, then they are likely to not focus on your divorce case either. Ensure that the attorney you select acts according to the industry’s professional ethics and treats you with the attention and reverence you deserve as this might be a business to them, but it is your life.

 

Make the Decision

When you decide, ensure you choose the divorce attorney who is professional, responsive, local, knowledgeable and communicates well. The divorce attorney you select is a person you need to feel comfortable with, trust, a person who supports your philosophy towards divorce, has a style that fits your work, and is affordable. The divorce attorney recognizes your children’s importance and puts them first in the legal process instead of making unreasonable child support demands or custody arrangements. This is an important decision, and there are no guarantees in this process. Therefore, you must ensure to follow these steps to select the right divorce attorney.

Conclusion

Divorce is an emotional and highly personal process, the outcome of which can have a significant impact on your life. When you select the right men’s divorce attorney, ensure that you pick the one who listens to what you want, advises you well, and has your best interest at heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It takes great courage and dedication to pursue a law degree. The legal system is complex and for those who aspire to practice law, the bar is set pretty high (pun intended). According to Bar passage data published by the American Bar Association, in 2019, about 70% of people passed the exam on the first try. While it’s a hard exam, it’s not impossible to pass.

Whether you’re just starting law school or you’re settling into your first position after passing the Bar, you need access to the right information and tools. The following tools will help you stay organized, continue learning, and make it easier to research case law.

1. Excel training courses

Knowing how to use Excel is critical for staying organized and making your life easier. For instance, you can use a standard calculator to calculate your recurring expenses, but it’s easier to program Excel to do the math. When you program an Excel sheet to track your daily, monthly, or yearly expenses, any cost adjustments automatically recalculate your total expenses.

Learning how to use Excel functions, formulas, and shortcuts from ExcelTraining.com will save you time, money, and eliminate frustration. Excel should be on your radar, especially if you plan on managing billing for a law firm.

Once you know how to use Excel functions and formulas, it’s easy to create detailed Excel spreadsheets for managing clients. You can program a spreadsheet to calculate the total number of hours worked and total expenses incurred by each client.

You can also use Excel to track what you discuss in your free consultations and interactions with clients.

2. Casemine

Studying law requires learning how the law has been applied historically. However, reading through entire casefiles is time-consuming and sometimes impossible. Serious law students need to learn from past cases, but it’s unrealistic for anyone to spend entire days and weeks reading through and interpreting one casefile. That’s where Casemine can help.

Casemine is a legal research platform that uses powerful AI algorithms to find connections between case laws. These connections include links to other relevant cases that can provide further clarity around case law.

The Casemine algorithm makes suggestions for additional relevant keywords and landmark case laws to explore. The Casemine platform doesn’t rely solely on keywords, but rather, interprets the context of documents and search queries, which supports in-depth case law research.

There are other online case law databases, but Casemine has stronger AI algorithms and provides a more thorough connection to other relevant cases. For example, using the visualization interface, you can see connections between case laws, including nuances and patterns not visible from traditional research processes.

3. Automated billing software

If you’re running your own practice and want a hands-off approach to billing, you need automated software. Many law firms use Practice Panther because it syncs with QuickBooks Online, and clients can pay directly from the invoice. It’s cloud-based so that you can manage your finances from anywhere in the world.

Part of creating a successful practice involves getting clients to pay on time. In this context, little conveniences make the most significant difference. For example, when clients can pay directly from their invoice, you’re more likely to get that payment on time.

4. Google Scholar

When you need to find journal publications, Google Scholar is an incredibly useful tool. Search for any topic, and you’ll get massive results to look through. While many law students rely on Westlaw, Google Scholar has articles you can’t find on Westlaw.

5. Cite This For Me

Getting marked down in law school for referencing errors is frustrating yet avoidable. It’s hard to break the habit of making casual references to your sources; however, it’s a habit that doesn’t work in law school.

Cite This For Me makes it simple and easy to create proper citations for various citation styles, including Harvard, APA, AMA, OSCOLA, and MLA.

This useful citation tool even comes with a Chrome extension that allows you to cite your sources as you search.

6. Westlaw

Westlaw is a comprehensive legal encyclopedia revered by law students and practicing lawyers. This powerful research tool can be used for endless purposes. When you need to answer a client’s question, a little research using Westlaw will give you accurate information fast.

Once you start practicing law, using the Westlaw database will help you create a stronger litigation strategy.

Most universities provide free access to Westlaw, but if you’ve already graduated, you can sign up for an individual access plan.

Tools are only as powerful as your commitment

These tools can help you become successful throughout your career practicing law. However, tools alone don’t bring success. Success requires a combination of powerful tools, commitment to the outcome, and the dedication to persevere.

 

 

 

 

Colorado has specific rules about who can file a wrongful death lawsuit in the state, covered in this article. For additional questions, please contact a wrongful death lawyer in Colorado for more information.

Wrongful Death Claims in Colorado

In this state, a wrongful death lawsuit is a civil action that tries to establish that a person or entity is liable for someone’s death. To do this, the plaintiff must show that negligence, recklessness, or intentional behavior caused the death.

Many personal injury cases, including slip and fall cases, car accidents, and medical malpractice, can be the reason to file a wrongful death lawsuit.

In essence, a wrongful death action is a personal injury lawsuit where the injured party is deceased. However, another party can take the place of the dead and pursue the legal claim.

Who May File

Colorado statutes state who can file a wrongful death lawsuit. Particular time limits apply to each person who wants to file suit in court. In this state, the deceased’s surviving husband or wife is the only one who can file the claim in the initial year after the person’s death. After the death, the surviving husband or wife and surviving children may file a wrongful death claim during year two.

If the person who died had no surviving husband, wife, or children, the person’s mother or father could file the claim.

Additionally, the state’s representative can file the claim to recover some types of losses incurred by the estate. This is called a survival action.

Damages in a Wrongful Death Lawsuit

In most cases, the jury determines monetary damages in a wrongful death lawsuit, but a judge may perform this duty in some cases. The damages awarded in the legal action depend on case particulars. Generally, Coloradans can seek the following, following injuries:

• Income, wages, commissions, and other compensation the person would have earned if they had survived.
• Lost benefits, such as 401(k) and life insurance.
• Loss of care, comfort, companionship, protection, and affection

Also, the representative of the estate can seek the following damages suffered by the estate:

• Hospital, medical, and emergency care costs related to the person’s illness or injury, and
• Funeral costs.

In a few cases, families may seek punitive damages. These damages are awarded to punish the person whose reckless behavior led to the death. Punitive damages also discourage other people from engaging in similar reckless behavior.

Note that a wrongful death lawsuit is a civil action and differs from a criminal case. The federal or state prosecutor files the criminal case, and punishments include jail or prison time, fines, probation, etc.

The punishment in a wrongful death lawsuit is monetary only. A criminal case and wrongful death can be filed simultaneously. If the criminal case results in an innocent verdict, the wrongful death case still may find the accused liable for the death.

Time Limits to File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit

In Colorado, the plaintiff must file a wrongful death lawsuit within 24 months (2 years) of the person’s death date. This deadline is referred to as the statute of limitations.

The time available to file this civil action is further limited by filing during certain parts of those 24 months.

For example, during year one, the person’s parents or children cannot file the claim if the spouse is still living. Only the husband or wife of the deceased can file during that year.

During year two, the husband or wife can file, but the surviving children can file. If no one else has survived, parents can file the lawsuit at any time.

Check out for more great insights and free case evaluation from an expert personal injury lawyer: https://www.servetheinjured.com/new-jersey-slip-fall-lawyer/