Lancaster Law Blog : Lancaster PA Lawyer & Attorney : Russell Krafft & Gruber Law Firm : Pennsylvania : Lancaster's Legal Link

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Even though gas prices are slowly falling, they are still relatively high. In fact, they are so high that the Internal Revenue Service has agreed to raise the standard mileage rate for operating a vehicle for business purposes from 51 cents to 55.5 cents per mile. The new rate applies to qualifying expenses that are both incurred and reimbursed on or after July 1, 2011. I think most would agree that despite the increase, the IRS will still not be winning any popularity contests.

While there are generally no Pennsylvania laws requiring employers to use the IRS' rate, there are tax advantages for doing so. The IRS will deem employers who make qualifying reimbursements up to 55.5 cents per mile as meeting their accounting requirements, thus no income reporting or withholding is required for those reimbursements. However, employers need to make sure that their employees have provided adequate proof that the mileage was strictly for business use.

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During my time as a prosecutor, I was surprised by the number of defendants charged with driving under the influence (DUI) who did not hire an attorney and attempted to represent themselves. Admittedly, some of those defendants ended up with a result that, in my opinion, was substantially similar to the result that would have occurred had they hired an attorney. On the other hand, I saw many defendants stumble into the many pitfalls they could have avoided had they hired an attorney. Thus, anyone charged with driving under the influence should understand the benefits of hiring an attorney experienced in DUI-related law.

Consequences

The punishment for a DUI offense can vary greatly depending on the circumstances. Important factors include:

• The blood alcohol content of the individual at the time of arrest
• If the individual has any prior DUI convictions and how long ago those convictions occurred
• Was there any damages or injuries from a related car crash
• If the individual is underage
• The type of substance the individual was under the influence of

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The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) recently took a step toward helping small businesses refinance their commercial loans. Many loans to small businesses have balloon payments where a large portion of the amount borrowed becomes due at the end of the loan. Usually these loans are refinanced so the balloon payment is never made but, in light of the Great Recession, these options may be limited or unavailable to small businesses. I saw an article in the Central Penn Business Journal that local economic development corporations (EDCs) were pushing the opportunity to refinance under the SBA 504 lending program, which historically was only available to new purchases of property and equipment. Under the new program, however, eligible small businesses will have the benefits described below of the 504 program to refinance existing loans.

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If you want to form a new business or already have a business, you may be wondering what entity is right for you. Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), Limited Partnership (LP), General Partnership (GP), Limited Liability Company (LLC), S. Corp. and C. Corp. are common business entities in Pennsylvania and are generally used in different circumstances. Which entity is right for you depends on a number of factors such as taxation, liability for owners, control over business decisions and transferability of ownership. This article will briefly describe various business entities and when each entity may be right for a particular business, as well as how to form the entity and certain costs associated with forming and carrying on the business.

General Partnership (GP). Unless another entity is formed, whenever two or more people carry on a business for profit in Pennsylvania they are a general partnership. No document needs to be filed or signed for this type of entity to exist and, if there is no Partnership Agreement, Pennsylvania's Partnership Act determines the rights of the partners. For example, if no writing is in place, then profits are shared equally between partners and losses are shared in the same manner as profits. This means if one partner has contributed significant money toward the partnership and the other has not, each partner will share equally in the profits, regardless of how unfair this might appear. The good news is that there is a lot of flexibility in creating Partnership Agreements to carry out the intention of the parties.