Here is this week’s news round-up for home business, micro business, sole-traders, freelancers, self-employed and any one who is interested in small business news from the United States:
- Practically Speaking: Stimulus Law Aids Small Business, but Benefits Are Not Easy to Find: Small entrepreneurs and their tax advisers must do some detective work to reap the full benefits of the recovery package.
- Entrepreneurial Edge:As Others Dig In,the Venturesome Set Out : The recession is not holding back everyone. Some business owners say now is the time to lay the groundwork for more prosperous days.
- An Entrepreneur Out to Mend Global Fences: Shabnam Rezaei has been working towards a better understanding of Iran for several years. But trying to change America’s image of her native country is an enormous undertaking, even for this woman of intelligence and determination.
- Business by the numbers: Costly regulations Federal regulations are an expected cost of doing business, like salaries, supplies and electric bills. But small businesses – those with fewer than 20 employees – pay 45 percent more per employee for regulatory compliance than companies…
- Small business takes confidence and courage: Being in business takes confidence and courage, especially in times like these. Buyers aren’t buying. Lenders aren’t lending. Everyone delays making decisions, because everything seems so uncertain.
- DHS works on EAGLE small-business strategy: Homeland Security Department officials are seeking industry input on two possible approaches for setting up a departmentwide information technology services contract that is set aside for small businesses, according to a recent notice.
- The Stimulus’ Key Small Business Tax Provisions: The stimulus bill signed into law by President Barack Obama on Feb. 17, formally known as the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, provides $288 billion in tax relief to individuals and companies. But how much of that will benefit small business owners—and how? You can read the 407-page law posted online, but we wonder how many members of Congress managed that. Instead, columnist Karen E. Klein has made things a bit easier by highlighting the law’s most important tax provisions applying specifically to small firms. Bear in mind, these changes only apply to federal tax liability, not state.
- Lincoln’s Lessons For Small Business: Who’s the only U.S. president to receive a patent? Here’s a hint: He was also a small business owner and one-time retailer
As always this list is not exhaustive, but I hope it will give you a little overview. — ST.
