Small Time Operator: How to Start Your Own Business, Keep Your Books, Pay Your Taxes, and Stay Out of Trouble

250 Pages·2011·81.311 MB·English

by  Bernard B. Kamoroff

About SmAll time operAtor
With more than sixty-six printings and twelve edi-
tions, Small Time Operator is “the most requested,
most recommended, and best known small business
guidebook in the world” (Business Professional).
Updated every printing, this edition has the most
current, most up-to-date information, to help you be
a success in your own business.
With over 650,000 copies in print, Small Time
Operator is the best-selling small business guide-
book of all time.

SmAll time operAtor
How to Start Your own business,
Keep Your books, pay Your taxes,
and Stay out of trouble
twelftH edition
Bernard B. Kamoroff, CPA
tAYlor trAde publiSHinG
Lanham · New York · Boulder · Toronto · Plymouth, UK
Please Read:
I have done my best to give you useful and accurate information in this book, but I
cannot guarantee that the information is correct or will be appropriate to your particu-
lar situation. Laws, procedures, and regulations change frequently and are subject to
differing interpretations. It is your responsibility to verify all information and all laws
discussed in this book before relying on them. Nothing in this book can substitute for
legal advice and cannot be considered as making it unnecessary to obtain such advice.
In all situations involving local, state, or federal law, obtain specific information from
the appropriate government agency or a competent person.
Published by Taylor Trade Publishing
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
http://www.rlpgtrade.com
Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom
Distributed by National Book Network
Copyright © 2011 by Bernard B. Kamoroff
Illustrations, cartoons, and song lyrics used by permission of the copyright holders.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information stor-
age and retrieval systems, without written permission from the pub-
lisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kamoroff, Bernard B.
Small time operator : how to start your own business, keep your books,
pay your taxes, and stay out of trouble / Bernard B. Kamoroff. — 12th ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-58979-664-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-1-58979-665-2 (electronic)
1. New business enterprises. I. Title.
HD62.5.K344 2011
658.1'1—dc23 2011021581
` ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
Many thanks . . .
To Jim Hayes for your original idea. To Jim Robertson for your encouragement
and for suggesting the title. To Robert Greenway for helping to publish the
original edition.
To the businesspeople who allowed me to interview them: Joe Campbell, Lara
Stonebraker, Jan Lowe, Bob Matthews, Pat Ellington, Mike Simon, Nick Mein,
Mike Madsen, Key Dickason, Steve Hargraves, and Terry Nemeth.
To the people who generously shared their expertise: Paul Paul and Mary Lai
(insurance); Dave Raub and Tony Mancuso (corporations); Joe Sachs (SBA);
Larry Jacobs and Jan Zobel (taxes); John Bobbitt (marketing); Lance Hoffman,
Joanie Mitchell, and Michael McCaffrey (import/export); Marcie Hart (pat-
ents); Tom Person and James Dillehay (Internet).
To my tireless editor Andy Blasky.
To my illustrators Bruce McCloskey, Kat and Will Emerson, my daughter
Crystal, and my dad, David Kamoroff, for drafting the ledgers.
To the people who had faith in me and supported the project when it was just a
manuscript and a dream: Lance and Kathy Hoffman, Beth Hackenbruch, Jerry
Eisman, Richard Benson, and Paul and Laura Klipfel.
To my long lost friend H. Berry. To my daughters Crystal Rose, Julia, Colleen,
and Corrina. And especially to Sharon, the Sweet Yodelady.
This book is dedicated to John Muir, The Mechanic.

In this world, a person must either be anvil
or hammer.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

brief ContentS
Detailed Contents xi
Preface: Be Your Own Boss xix
Chapter 1 Getting Started 1
Chapter 2 Bookkeeping 35
Chapter 3 Growing Up 65
Chapter 4 Taxes 93
Chapter 5 Home Business 137
Chapter 6 Your Business 153
Appendix The Ledgers 199
Index 215
About the Author 229
ix