If you already have a profitable business, start another one to diversify, and to shield taxes from profitable one.

If you don't have a Home-Based Business, start one today.

4. Employ Your Children

For a taxpayer who has a business, he or she can hire their children to work in their business. As an example, you put your daughter on payroll for 12 hours a week and pay her $7.00 hour. This would equal about $4,300 per year. She has to have real duties to perform and a record should be kept of her activities.

The advantage is salary would be deductible from your business, in effect eliminating $4,300 of income from taxation. And if business is unincorporated, no social security taxes would have to be withheld and paid for your daughter's earnngs. In addition, you don't lose exemption for your daughter ($3,000) if you continue to provide over half of her support, and it is assumed that your daughter has no unearned income.

If your daughter can be claimed as a dependent, no tax will be due on her income, as it is under $4,700, standard deduction.

5. Pension Plan Contributions (HR 10 Plans & 401(k) Plans)

Whether you are self-employed business owner or employed, pension plan contributions are a good long-term tax shelter.

You can contribute a lot more to HR 10 Plans than to IRAs. Money Purchase Plans permit larger annual deductible contributions-up to 20% of self-employment earnings, up to a maximun deposit of $35,000. Profit-Sharing Plans provide a limit of 13%, up to a maximum of $25,000. Contributsions grow tax-deferred until retirement.

For employees, 401(k) Plans have become most important source of retirement savings and one of largest sources of tax savings.

For 2002, employee contribution limit is $11,000 and catch-up provision for employees age 50 and above is $1,000.

Many companies match a portion of employee contribution and employees should take advantage of these matching amounts and contribute amounts above such levels if they can do so.

Above you have five ‘Superb’ long-term tax shelters.

(c) 2003

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Roger Staubus CPA is editor of "Tax Tips For You e-Zine" and author of "77 Strategies For Slashing Your Income Taxes." To Subscribe to “Tax Tips For You e-Zine,” send an email message to roger@taxtipsfy.com, and put Subscribe in subject line.

http://www.taxtipsfy.com/index.html

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So, how are we, little guys, supposed to succeed where giants failed? Name recognition. Yep, it's back to that.

BUT, name recognition you need online is very different from that which you get in 'the real world'. Online you need 'niche name recognition'. You don't need to be a big name in general. However, you DO need to be a big name in your niche.

Here are a few suggestions for getting name recognition:

---> Decide what product or group of products you want your name to be associated with. You can start with just your name and append products later.

---> Use your name as one of keywords on each of your webpages and each of articles that you submit to other websites.

---> Make frequent posts to appropriate forums. Include your name and product.

Don't think that you have to do all this at once. Start where you can, but make sure that you have a plan of action. Continue to get your name in front of your target audience. Don't just rely on your website.

Once people start to associate your name with your product and your niche, much of your marketing battle has been won.

Until next time, Ron McCluskey http://www.netloot.com