Smart Yearend Planning – Corporate Formalities

There are three main areas we need to keep in mind as the year ends:

1. Taxes
2. Corporate formalities
3. Planning for next year

The power of documentationshifting the burden of proof
For those who have an LLC (opposed to a sole proprietorship, S Corporation or C Corporation), its always better to over-document. By keeping a tax diary, you shift the burden of proof from yourself to the IRS, who then has to disprove its validity.

Annual meetingan opportunity to have some fun
Make sure youve done your annual meeting by the end of the year. Why youre at it, you might as well make it fun. You can hold it anywhere in the continental United States without a problem, and you can hold the meeting abroad or Hawaii or Alaska if you can show why you needed to hold the meeting there.

Get corporate minutes and meetings in line.

1. Prepare a notice or waiver of notice (available on Pathfinders Web site). When you have a corporation, you need to notify in writing by certified mail all the shareholders of the meeting. If youre the only shareholder, you certainly do not need to send a notice to yourself; instead, you can print out a...