Welcome to your daily briefing on small business developments in Illinois. Today we're covering 9 key stories including updates on illinois small business headlines, illinois small business updates, background & context. Let's dive in.
5 stories
DBA stands for 'doing business as.' It is a term for any registered name a business uses that is not their legal name.
Relevant to small business professionals operating in IL.
Search Illinois business entities through the Illinois Secretary of State Department of Business Services. Verify LLCs, corporations & check IL business status free.
Relevant to small business professionals operating in IL.
Prepare to incorporate your Illinois business by running a business entity search. This free search will help you choose an available name.
Relevant to small business professionals operating in IL.
Learn how to use IL SOS to form or manage an Illinois corporation, check name availability, and get a Certificate of Good Standing online.
Relevant to small business professionals operating in IL.
Find out how to register an Illinois DBA (Assumed Business Name) as an Illinois sole proprietor, general partnership, LLC, or corporation.
Relevant to small business professionals operating in IL.
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1 story
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Relevant to small business professionals operating in IL.
3 stories
Buy-sell agreements among co-owners specify what happens at death, disability, or departure — but only matter if there is a funding source to actually execute the buyout. Common defects: insurance policies that lapsed, valuation methods that produce numbers no one can pay, and trigger events that include voluntary departure without a payment plan.
Without funding, the surviving owner faces a co-owner's heirs as the new business partner. Most buy-sell disputes that reach litigation are not about the agreement's terms but about the absence of a funding mechanism.
The federal safe harbor for estimated payments is the lesser of 90% of current-year tax or 100% (110% for higher incomes) of prior-year tax. New businesses meet safe harbor easily in year one when prior-year tax was zero. In year two, last-year-based safe harbor disappears and underpayment penalties surface.
The penalty is not large per dollar but compounds across quarters and surprises owners who thought their bookkeeper was handling it. Cash flow gets squeezed at exactly the growth point where it is tightest.
Most small-business credit cards — even those issued in the company name — carry a personal guarantee in the application terms. Default by the business becomes personal liability. This applies to most issuers including those marketed as "business credit builders.".
Owners assuming corporate-veil protection on business cards can be blindsided by personal collections actions years later. The card's branding does not match the legal exposure.
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