United States

Good to Know

• Deciding which business entity to establish is important. At first glance, it may seem like setting up a branch office — not incorporating at all — helps you achieve your goal of getting up and running fast in the United States. But the wrong business setup can have serious implications.


• While it’s true all states but Montana are "at-will" by default — meaning employers can hire or fire US employees for any or no reason — most employees belong to a so-called "protected category" (race, age, sex, religion, nationality, etc.). They can, consequently, make a claim of discrimination under US law if they believe they have been treated unfairly.


• Corporate taxes are levied at many levels of government, from federal and state levels down to individual municipalities. Corporations also consider taxes like the Federal Alternative Minimum Tax and, depending on their business structure, they may need to collect sales and use tax at the point of the consumer purchase.


• It is not uncommon for companies to “outsource” the HR administration (payroll, employee benefits) to a third party in so-called “co-employment” arrangements. A Professional Employer Organization (PEO) names three partners in an employment relationship — the employee, the underlying company, and the third-party PEO firm.