due two hours

1. The 4th Amendment of The Constitution of the United States of America reads, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall be issued, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describe the place to be searched, and the persons or items to be seized” (Seaquist, 2012, Appendix A). 

The 4th amendment protects a person and business from being illegally searched without just cause.  Illegal searches protect businesses because it protects their privacy as well as the privacy of employees because personal employee information is linked to company.  Businesses do not have to fear unreasonable or illegal searches which could result in negative publicity. 

The 4th amendment limits businesses because if there was a company who was illegally conducting business, there would be nothing that could be done about it without a search warrant which could not be issued without probable cause.  It could be detrimental to the honest company if the company that was doing business illegally was the competition. 

An example that I have encountered at my work is that I had to sign a form stating that if I chose to use my personal phone, for business purposes that the corporation could search my phone and even delete all of the data on it if they deemed it necessary.  Most places of employment have employees sign notices that make the employee aware that their work emails, phones, etc. can be searched if deemed necessary.  While this may feel like an invasion of privacy, it protects businesses from unlawful conduct of employees.  For example, I became aware of an employee playing games on Facebook while at work.  As a result, Facebook was blocked from all employee computers. 

2. The power of a nation lies in its people and the beliefs they live out daily. The United States was founded on specific principles that over time was defined and became the very basis for its constitution. This document has withstood the test of time and when it fell short was amended to reflect the conscious of a collective nation. One particular part that rings true to me is “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This small phrase hints at that every person regardless of socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicity, or even gender has intrinsic value and worth. Additionally, to further drive this point home the United States constitution developed several amendments that address specific rights. I would like to focus on the 5th Amendment. The fifth amendment states “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation” (Seaquist, 2012). The fifth amendment summarized protects the individual from self-incrimination, wrongful imprisonment, and removal of personal property without just compensation. This amendment ensures due process in all areas is given. The fifth amendment helps businesses by providing protection against rogue, greedy, and unscrupulous government practices. Without the fifth amendment, business owners could be thrown into jail for perceived crimes and all assets seized for government or other entities personal gains. The fifth amendment also prevents citizens from being tried again for crimes they were previously exonerated from. The fifth amendment limits businesses from placing indictments against others without just verifiable cause. I currently serve in the military (the amendment refers to the military as militia). The military has its own justice system called the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ for short). Due to the nature of military profession good discipline and order is key to protecting civilians from would be adversaries that seek to do America harm. Understanding this simple truth, limits the military members rights. The military member has all the same rights but because of possible combat scenarios that could deteriorate into inhumane treatment of the enemy, extra rules of engagement are levied on them. About 4 years ago I had the privilege of being a part of a UCMJ proceedings. I advised the accused member of their rights and they waived them. As the interview went on, I advised the member to stop talking and invoke the fifth amendment because as he was speaking truthfully, he also was providing incriminating information that had the potential to end his career. He immediately stopped talking but the defense lawyer was not happy. He accused me of derailing his case. Long story short, the very issue the member was being accused of was later found out that he was innocent. The deceptive questioning techniques used could have caused the lost of outstanding military member. In this case the Fifth Amendment protected the military member.

3.

An LLC is a business entity that is legally separate from its owners, who are known as members. An LLC can have one member or many members. Small business owners often choose to form an LLC instead of a corporation because LLCs offer more flexibility in the way they are managed and usually have fewer recordkeeping and reporting obligations than corporations. An S corporation is not a type of business entity. The S corp. designation refers to the way a business has chosen to be taxed under the Internal Revenue Code.

For tax purposes, the IRS classifies businesses as sole proprietorships, partnerships, C corporations, or S corporations. There is no LLC tax classification and, therefore, LLCs are taxed as though they are another type of business. The IRS automatically taxes single-member LLCs as sole proprietorships and multi-member LLCs as partnerships. But an LLC can also choose to be taxed as a C corporation or as an S corporation. 

I would choose the LLC as the organizational form of my business because LLCs afford a degree of flexibility in management that corporations don’t and can be managed by their owners (members) or a group of managers. An LLC is a pass-through business entity. Profits and losses of the organization go straight through to the owners. Business income equals personal income, so the owner pays the tax on his or her personal return, and it's taxed at the individual rate. 

4. The main ideas behind a business venture are to either make a profit or for humanitarian and philanthropic purposes. When deciding to start a business, there are several things to consider; including how to raise capital and the form of ownership. By taking into consideration the advantages of the various types of businesses, the individual can identify the best fit for their ideas. For example, most people starting a business prefer registering as a Limited Liability Company (LLC), due to the various advantages it comes with it. 

One of the reasons most people register businesses as LLC is that there is less paperwork involved in filing for this status of the company. With all the required documents, it is also easy to register a firm as an LLC. An LLC offers personal protection from an individual's asset during litigation or bankruptcy filing involving the business entity. If the owner can prove that their actions were not grossly negligent or fraudulent, the owner is protected from any losses the business may incur. Also, if a single-member entity owns an LLC, they can avoid paying taxes. The business owner can claim liability for tax purposes. Having an LLC allows the individual to take advantage of the tax benefits associated with such a business entity (Taulli 2016). 

In comparison to an LLC, a corporation can be public or private. A Public Corporation can be organized by local municipalities or government entities to carry out public services, and are considered non-profit institutions. Private Corporations, on the other hand, are established by individuals to carry out private services and are meant to make a profit for the people who created it. The corporation can be either chapter S- which means they are a small business corporation and are granted tax exemption by the Internal Revenue Service. In order to qualify for such a status, the business must have no more than 100 members. Also, an estate cannot represent the business; it has to be represented by an individual, and have a nonresident alien as a shareholder. Finally, a corporation S must have more than one class of stock, but voting and nonvoting classification within a category of a stock is allowed. The main idea behind a chapter S corporation is to ensure that a small business enjoys the structure and benefits of a large corporation but is not double taxed. Big corporations that have an unlimited membership, publicly traded, and have a large number of shareholders, both domestically and internationally, are considered corporation C (Seaquist & Coulter 2012).

If I were to establish a business, I would prefer the LLC. This is because, as a new business owner, I would prefer to save time by easily filing paperwork to get the business started. Apart from that, as an owner, I am assuming most of the risk by investing my personal funds; hence, I would like to protect all of my personal funds in the event of any litigation, or if the company incurs any losses. The ability to utilize tax deductions in order to offset some of my personal losses when filing personal taxes would allow me to recoup some of the funds I invested in the business in the long run.