The Guide Dog Approach to Incentives

By Greg De Bruin, Owner, A. James De Bruin and Sons, Bethpage, NY

My family has been training guide dogs for the blind for a few years now, and we are currently on our third dog. The training requirements are very specific; you cannot punish bad behavior, and you have about ten seconds to reward good behavior by giving a dog biscuit or a chew before the dog forgets what the reward is for.

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Choosing the Proper Business Entity

By Hugh Saddington, Partner, Saddington Shusko LLP, Irvine, CA

Business owners should periodically review their choice of entity in light of ever-changing tax laws, assessment of the potential liabilities and the owner’s long range exit strategy.

Business owners can operate their business as a sole proprietorship, a general partnership (“Partnership”), a limited partnership (“Ltd”), a limited liability company (“LLC”), a C Corporation (“C”) or as an S Corporation (“S”).

Assets can normally be contributed to any of these entities tax-free. The distribution of assets from either a “C” or an “S”, if they have appreciated, will cause a taxable event. In the case of a “C”, the gain will be taxed twice—first at the corporate level and again at the shareholder level.

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