No, reason I dread first quarter of new year is that my email box floods with questions about business taxes and IRS, my two least favorite subjects on earth. It’s not that I am opposed to paying my fair share of business taxes. It’s that I consider IRS to be a little like Beetlejuice, movie demon who appeared only after his name was called three times in a row. My fear is if I write too many IRS columns their dark agents may appear on my doorstep, ready to drag me away to an uncertain fate.

Oh well, one must do his duty no matter consequences, so here we go….

Q: I am starting a small retail business. While talking to a potential supplier last week he asked for my EIN number. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I told him I would have to get back with him because I didn’t have number handy. What is an EIN number and why do I need one? -- Robert P.

A: Robert, do you remember old Johnny Rivers song “Secret Agent Man?” There was a line that said, “They’re giving you a number and taking away your name.” An EIN isn’t as cool as a secret agent number, but it works much same way when it comes to your business’ relationship with IRS. Instead of identifying your business by name, IRS identifies your business by EIN.

EIN stands for Employer Identification Number and is also known as a federal tax ID number. The EIN is a nine-digit number that IRS assigns to businesses and is used to identify taxpayers that are required to file various business tax returns.

Does your business need an EIN? According to IRS answer is yes if:

· Your business has employees

· Your business is a corporation or partnership

· You file returns for Employment, Excise, or Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms tax

· You withhold taxes on income (other than wages) paid to a non-resident alien.

· Your business has a Keogh plan

· Your business involves trust, estate, real estate mortgage investment conduits, non-profit, farmers’ cooperatives, or plan administrators.

The mentor/mentee relationship is very much like that of a parent and child. The younger, less experienced child mentee will look to you, older, more experienced parent mentor, for guidance, wisdom and advice. They will come to you with questions and expect you to have all answers. They will bring to you their problems and expect you to solve them. And if you don’t give them attention they think they deserve they may pout and complain about you to all their friends.

In short, if kids get on your nerves, Kenneth, don’t even think about being a mentor. Buy a goldfish or even better, a rubber plant. They require far less attention and everyone will be much happier in long run.

Typically, there are three things every good mentor should have: time, patience, and a genuine desire to help another person succeed without expecting anything in return. If you have an abundance of those things, then being a mentor can be a highly rewarding experience. If not, please see rubber plant reference above.

Why do some people make excellent mentors while others do not? It’s all about motive. Are your reasons for being a mentor unselfish or are they self indulgent? Are you considering becoming a mentor because you truly feel that a mentee might benefit from your wisdom and experience or is it because you like being center of someone else’s adoration?

You should not become a mentor just to feed your own ego because you will be doing your mentee a great injustice because there will be no give and take to relationship. I know many successful entrepreneurs who consider themselves mentors, but truth be told they simply revel in holding court and having younger entrepreneurs hang on their every word as if its gospel. They care less about hearing their mentee’s questions than they do about hearing sound of their own voice.

As my mama would say, “If you talk just to hear your own head rattle,” then mentoring is not for you.