In Oregon, and most of the rest of the United States, the Limited Liability Company (LLC) is the most popular entity for a new business. The LLC has quickly become the most popular because of the numerous advantages it has over a Corporation, Partnership or a Sole Proprietor. In most instances, a small business will be best served as an LLC.

The Portland City Council voted yesterday to remove the exemptions of real estate agents from the city’s business license. There is also talk about removing a similar exemption from insurance agents.

Also changed was requiring new businesses to pay a $100 registration fee. It appears to be the city councils plan to remove the current exemptions and harmonize the rules for every industry.

This looks interesting but it's hard to say what they do exactly from their website. Apparently they performed a pilot in 2006 with several small businesses. It would have been nice if they had prepared some white papers from the individual businesses to better show what kind of actions and results small businesses can expect.

Most of the local accomplishments they list are initiatives completed by the city of Portland.

The Senate's version of the economic stimulus package goes farther than the House's version to aid small businesses. The bill would extend the write off of losses to gains to a five year period instead of the current two year period. More clearly, businesses that have operating losses in 2007 and 2008 may claim a refund for taxes paid during the previous 5 years.

This is on top of the accelerated depreciation allowed in the House's version.

Since LLC's are by far the most popular business organization at the moment. I prepared a few slides.(If you are using a feedreader,you may not be able to see the slides.)

If you don't care about privacy, you can file most of the forms yourself at filinginoregon.com. It's straight forward enough to do on your own. I still suggest that you speak to an attorney and accountant when starting a new business.