A state attorney general has recently investigated several not-for-profit corporations under suspicion that the organizations’ officers have misappropriated funds, using the companies as fronts to cover for large-scale defrauding and use of donations to fund lavish lifestyles. In one case, the attorney general’s investigation and subsequent trial resulted in a verdict convicting two organization officers of conspiring to steal over $50,000. The not-for-profit ran a lunch program for senior citizens; however, the jury found that the officers routinely submitted false monthly contract and service invoice reports, inflating the costs of the lunches and enabling the officers to skim money. Both officers were charged with several felony accounts and have been sentenced to probation and a combined total of $50,000 in fines. The restaurant owner of the shop from which the organization obtained the lunches previously pleaded guilty to Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree; he was sentenced to conditional discharge and restitution of $25,000.

In another case, an executive director was arraigned for allegedly defrauding Medicaid for services rendered to the organization’s clients, including a developmentally disabled person directly under the director’s care. The complaint alleges that the director, responsible for coordinating and providing care to developmentally disabled individuals, double-billed her work, both submitting false time sheets for compensation through an independent employer and claiming medicaid for services rendered through the not-for-profit. She also allegedly used the money from clients’ bank accounts to cover personal expenses. If convicted, the director can face up to 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison.

If you are running a not-for-profit organization, it is critical that your bookkeeping and legal records be accurate and up to date, ensuring also that any required registrations and annual filings with your state attorney general’s office are maintained.

 

If you are a member of Spiegel & Utrera, P.A.’s General Counsel Club and have business related questions, call (800) 734-9900 or clubassist@amerilawyer.com for assistance. Remember, as a member of the  General Counsel Club, you receive unlimited legal, business, credit and tax advice all year long.

Spiegel & Utrera, P.A. is a corporate law firm with its main offices located in Miami, Florida with offices throughout the United States. As a law firm, we do more than just help you form your business entity. We stand ready to help with the maintenance of your legal business entity! We will assist you with Incorporation Service, Trademarks,Copyrights,Estate Planning, Legal Counsel, Wills,Trusts, Agreements & Leases, Corporate & Company

 

Avoiding payroll taxes by intentionally or unintentionally misclassifying employees as independent contractors is a costly mistake.

 

Most often the misclassification will be discovered during an audit or if a former worker files a complaint. Under “the twenty factor test” in Revenue Ruling 87-41, an employee is anyone who performs services for an employer if the employer can control what will be done and how it will be done. However, in an independent contractor relationship the employer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work done, and not the means and methods of a accomplishing the result.

 

How to properly create an independent contractor relationship

Foremost, you must have an independent contractor agreement in place. This will help define the responsibilities of the independent contractor to follow proper standards under the law. Next, the independent contractor should set up his own corporation or LLC. Then the  independent contractor relationship is between two entities. This helps the employer prove he is not controlling methods to accomplish the result.

If you are a member of Spiegel & Utrera, P.A.’s General Counsel Club and have business related questions, call (800) 734-9900 or clubassist@amerilawyer.com for assistance. Remember, as a member of the  General Counsel Club, you receive unlimited legal, business, credit and tax advice all year long.

Spiegel & Utrera, P.A. is a corporate law firm with its main offices located in Miami, Florida with offices throughout the United States. As a law firm, we do more than just help you form your business entity. We stand ready to help with the maintenance of your legal business entity! We will assist you with Incorporation Service, Trademarks, Copyrights, Estate Planning, Legal Counsel, Wills,Trusts, Agreements & Leases, Corporate & Company

 

A recent study found that one in five small business owners, defined by this sample as having under 100 employees, is concerned about compensation fraud and is unprepared to identify it or properly deal with the consequences. The same study found that approximately 13% of small business owners are concerned that one of their employees would commit fraud by faking an injury or illness.

A senior executive of a fraud investigations company noted that he sees more and more businesses installing surveillance cameras. Common flags for potential worker’s compensation fraud include employees with histories of filing claims, untimely claims, incidents occurring around the same time as a change in employment status, and lack of witnesses. The most common indicator, according to the executive, was an untimely report, such as when an injury occurred during the weekend and was reported early in the workweek to claim worker’s compensation.

If you are a member of Spiegel & Utrera, P.A.’s General Counsel Club and have business related questions, call (800) 734-9900 or clubassist@amerilawyer.com for assistance. Remember, as a member of the  General Counsel Club, you receive unlimited legal, business, credit and tax advice all year long.

Spiegel & Utrera, P.A. is a corporate law firm with its main offices located in Miami, Florida with offices throughout the United States. As a law firm, we do more than just help you form your business entity. We stand ready to help with the maintenance of your legal business entity! We will assist you with Incorporation Service, Trademarks, Copyrights, Estate Planning, Legal Counsel, Wills,Trusts, Agreements & Leases, Corporate & Company

If you are seeking to raise money for your business through private offering, the US Securities and Exchange Commission  (SEC) recently changed the rules regarding broad solicitation and general advertising under Rule 506 (c). Your company may take reasonable steps to ensure that all purchases are being made by accredited investors to satisfy the SEC rules when such accredited investors have approached the company following the general solicitation. The SEC provides non-exclusive means of achieving a safe harbor under the rule for verifying the income of the accredited investor, which include reviewing Internal Revenue Service forms that report income for the two most recent years.

When this is not available, review of the Internal Revenue Service forms that report income for the two years preceding the recently completed year and obtaining written representations from the purchaser that (i) an Internal Revenue Service form that reports the purchaser’s income for the recently completed year is not available, (ii) specify the amount of income the purchaser received for the recently completed year and that such amount reached the level needed to qualify as an accredited investor, and (iii) the purchaser has a reasonable expectation of reaching the requisite income level for the current year satisfies the SEC rule.

If you are a member of Spiegel & Utrera, P.A.’s General Counsel Club and have business related questions, call (800) 734-9900 or clubassist@amerilawyer.com for assistance. Remember, as a member of the  General Counsel Club, you receive unlimited legal, business, credit and tax advice all year long.

Spiegel & Utrera, P.A. is a corporate law firm with its main offices located in Miami, Florida with offices throughout the United States. As a law firm, we do more than just help you form your business entity. We stand ready to help with the maintenance of your legal business entity! We will assist you with Incorporation Service, Trademarks, Copyrights, Estate Planning, Legal Counsel, Wills,Trusts, Agreements & Leases, Corporate & Company