Lamar Whitman Posts

Following the enactment of the JOBS Act on April 5, there has been a lot of interest in the nuts and bolts of crowdfunding.  Does your company qualify?  Does it make economic sense for your needs?  Right now, there are a lot of unanswered questions as the Securities and Exchange Commission is working on the initial draft of regulations to implement this new law.Get ahead of the curve.   Join us for a webinar at 2pm EDT on July 25 titled:  Crowdfunding: Opportunities for the IT Channel and What Y ...

Startup Act 2.0 was recently introduced in both the House and Senate by a bi-partisan group of legislators.  In the Senate, S. 3217, was sponsored by Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS).  In the House, companion legislation H.R. 5893 was introduced by Rep. Grimm (R-NY-13) and Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA-47).This legislation is intended to boost our economic recovery by providing greater support for high-paying, high-skilled jobs in ...

We’ve heard so much about cloud computing, and Dan Shapero, technical marketing executive of ClikCloud and CompTIA board member, is no stranger to the subject. Shapero co-founded ClikCloud in 2011 to offer cloud-based marketing support to small businesses, including website and social media management, email marketing and website analytics.“The cloud has created a frictionless market for us to deliver high value services at an affordable price point,” Shapero said. “Economies of scale afforded b ...

The President recently signed into law the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act, which among its provisions would allow for crowdfunding for small businesses. Under the new law, companies can raise up to $1 million during a 12-month period under streamlined Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting requirements.While businesses in high-growth geographic areas, such as Silicon Valley or Cambridge/Kendall Square have exposure to a variety of fast-growth organizations and leaders, th ...

Generally, employers are required to file Form 941 on a quarterly basis to report and pay over federal income tax withholdings, social security and Medicare tax. They also must file a Form 940 annually to report federal unemployment taxes.  However, there are some exceptions.Household employers are allowed to replace the four quarterly Form 941 filings and the annual Form 940 filing with a single annual return, Schedule H, which is filed as part of the payer’s annual individual income tax filing ...

Last year, we reported on legislation enacted in Illinois that would shut down many small Internet businesses.  Dubbed the Amazon Tax, the new law would require any non-Illinois seller to collect Illinois sales tax if that seller acquires customers through a link on the Internet website of the Illinois business. This collection requirement would apply even though the out-of-state business has no other presence in the state. We refer to this emerging concept as “virtual nexus.”  The advent of thi ...

Today, the House voted to pass H.R. 9, the “Small Business Tax Cut Act,” by a vote of 235-173. This legislation would provide a 20-percent tax cut to companies employing 499 or fewer employees during either calendar year 2010 or 2011.  The way this works is that any business – without regard to revenues – would be given a tax deduction equal to 20 percent of that business’ net income.  For example, a business having 400 employees in 2011 with a net income of $20 million would get a deduction of ...

By now you know the JOBS Act was signed into law by the President on April 5.  This legislation includes six pre-existing bills, packaged together into a single piece of legislation.  Each of these provisions is intended to increase access to equity capital investment for small businesses: H.R. 1070 — Small Company Capital Formation Act – Increases small business SEC exemption from $5 million to $50 million. H.R. 2167 — Private Company Flexibility and Growth Act – Raises the shareholder threshol ...

In a remarkable show of bi-partisanship, the House passed the Senate-amended version of H.R. 3606 “Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act” by the wide margin of 380-41.  This legislation included six existing bills, four of which had passed the House already, and which have been supported by CompTIA as a means of infusing capital into small businesses.  The Senate amended the initial House version by adopting an amendment offered by Sen. Merkley, which was passed by a vote of 64-36.  This am ...

Small tech companies have gained a significant victory that will streamline and lessen the costs of obtaining equity capital.  Yesterday, the Senate approved the JOBS Act by a vote of 76-23, following its overwhelming passage by the House of Representatives just last week.  However, before passage, the Senate did tack on an amendment (by a vote of 64-35) that would provide more investor protections for crowdfunding while increasing the individual investment limitations: Individuals earning $40,0 ...