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Lobby Working at Home topic #355

Subject: "Questions on LLCs, Insurance, Personal Liability, and on type of business I wish to start related to..." Previous topic | Next topic
khanftFri May-30-08 04:04 AM
 
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"Questions on LLCs, Insurance, Personal Liability, and on type of business I wish to start related to trucking industry."


          

Hi,

My name is Kathy.
I have been a stay at home mom for several years now but prior to this I have over 15 years of PA tax auditing experience with truck drivers/trucking companies and oil companies. I feel this would be a large selling point, plus I still have many colleagues still working in the PA government.

I was thinking of starting a service business that I could work from home where I would take truck drivers mileage and fuel information and compile it into a mileage/fuel summary format as required by IFTA regulations (quarterly mileage/fuel tax returns). I could also complete heavy vehicle tax forms for federal taxes as well and eventually get into the permitting side of truck driving, once I educate myself more thoroughly.

I have several questions, one being is this type of service feasible right now, as far as starting a business in this present day high diesel fuel time? I know a lady who runs a business like this and has been established for many many years who has given my some advice in the past, but that was before the fuel prices have continued to skyrocket. I am not sure if truck drivers/companies would even want to talk to someone about hiring someone to do this right now. Should I try to call some before I even start to feel them out? Or would people in the business feel I was being odd when I haven't even started on creating my business?

Another question I have is concerning the liability side. I would like to be sure I could not be sued personally for anything, so I was thinking of becoming a single member LLC. Would this be the best way to go? The only type of errors I could make (I think) would be clerical errors. Should I even get insurance starting out? If I go the LLC way would that now cover me from being sued personally? I wouldn't really have a lot of assets other than using a computer and printer we use at home anyway. Even if I hired myself out as a subcontractor, I think I would still be liable for errors I made.

I just want to make sure I do not end up hurting my family when all I am trying to do is help my family. We do not have hardly any extra income to pay for a lawyer, insurance, business cards, etc. and I don't want to pay out for these items unless I feel I could make a go of it. I do know that there are not a lot of services locally that handle this type of business niche; the ones I do know of I have mixed feeling on. The ones where you receive a personal touch are definitely a great deal better than the large regional ones, as far as making sure the information sent in on the IFTA returns is correct and not missing any information.

Sorry this is so long, thanks to anyone who can help, Kathy

  

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