Now that we know everything there is to know about the next Bachelor, Arie Luyendyk Jr., it’s time to get to know the ladies of the house! The contestants were revealed by ABC today, and with (count ‘em!) FOUR Laurens to confuse in the house, a former Miss Teen USA, and a taxidermy enthusiast, it’s going to be an interesting season, indeed. Scroll through to meet all 29 hopefuls before the show airs this January. (Photos via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Jessica Carroll: If you live near Calgary Alberta, Canada, you may have already caught Carroll on TV — the 26-year-old is a television host. She’s also pretty sweet, revealing that she and her family head down South each year to build homes for homeless people in Mexico (they’re up to 20 so far!). Nice! (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Kendall Long: This Cali-cool 26-year-old from Santa Clarita is a creative director with a very, erm, unique hobby as a taxidermy collector. “My ex gave me an alligator hand holding an iron heart in a jar!” she gushed to ABC. She also claims to have once driven a car off a ramp through the caboose of a moving train car, so there’s that. To each their own? (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Rebecca (Becca) Kufrin: This Prior Lake, Minnesota publicist, 27, has three tats and a healthy obsession with Sister Act 2. (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Amber Wilkerson: Wilkerson is the 29-year-old powerhouse behind style blog Every Once in a Style, which she runs from her home base in Dallas, Texas. (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Brittane Johnson: 27-year-old Johnson is a self-described romantic with big dreams of owning her own wine and tapas bar someday, but for now, she’s marketing manager in San Diego, California. (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Lauren Burnham: Burnham, 25 (who, oddly enough, is giving us flashbacks to the OTHER Lauren B. in Bushnell), is a tech salesperson in Virginia Beach, Virginia and a Swifty, through and through. But don’t mistake her for a softie — she’s also got a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Bibiana Julian: This former Rookie of the Year Miami Dolphin cheerleader, 30, is now an executive assistant with a serious fear of sharks. Hey, we feel you, girl. (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Chelsea Roy: Roy, a 29-year-old New Englander from South Portland, Maine, has an adorable son and a job as a real estate executive assistant. She’s dying to go to Europe (“Take this girl to France!”) and is NOT a big fan of PDA. Are you listening, Arie?! (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Seinne Fleming: A Game of Thrones junkie with a heart of gold (she said she’d buy all her family members their dream homes and do philanthropic work should she ever win the lotto), Fleming sounds like a true gem. She’s 27 and works as commercial real estate manager in Long Beach, California. (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Lauren Griffin: A Midwestern executive recruiter from Indianapolis, Indiana, Griffin is 26 and very much into
Pantone’s 2018 Color the Year. In fact, she’d like to make it her hair color! “I’ve considered a very light lilac because I love it so much!” (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Caroline Lunney: This 26-year-old real estate agent from Holliston, Massachusetts, has a plant named Phil (yes, you read that right), a penchant for belting out Céline Dion tunes in her car (who doesn’t?!), and a beauty queen title under her belt, having been crowned Miss Teen USA back in 2008. Impressive, BB! (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Jacqueline Trumbull: Trumbull (not to be confused for “Trunchbull” from Matilda) is a research coordinator at a psychiatry lab in Morgantown, West Virginia, who is also aiming for a Ph D. in chemical psychology. She notes that she’s very career-focused, so considering Luyendyk's busy race-driving career, this just might be a match made in Heaven! (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Rebekah (Bekah) Martinez: Bekah (whose age is mysteriously unlisted), is a nanny in Fresno, California, that aspires to teach art at a studio, though she’s also plenty outdoorsy: She once received an invite to rock climb at a national level (she placed third in her division). (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Krystal Neilson: Neilson is a 29-year-old country girl from Missoula, Montana, where she serves as a fitness coach. She’s all about her work — and cooking, which she describes herself as “Thebomb.com” at. (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
D’Nysha (Nysha) Norris: At 30 years old, Norris is an orthopedic nurse by day and a bit of a daredevil by night: She’s skydived, for one, and would be Mulan if she could, because “She pretended to be a man and went to war. How badass is that?”
(Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Valerie Biles: Biles, 25, is a server in Nashville, Tennessee and a hardcore Halloween lover: Girl has more than 50 costumes packed away in her closet! (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Annaliese Puccini: This 32-year-old event designer from San Mateo, California,is extremely close to her family. She even has matching wrist star tats with her mom. Awww! (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Jenna Cooper: A 28-year-old social media manager in Upland, Indiana, Cooper is pretty relatable, citing likes such as Friends, funny, loving guys, and The Princess Bride. She DID get wild and crazy once on a mechanical bull, however — enough to break her wrist. Ouch! (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Brianna Amaranthus: At just 25, Amaranthus is a sports reporter in Grants Pass, Oregon, though she says she’d be a football player — a Quarterback, specifically — in another life. (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Maquel Cooper: 23-year-old Cooper, a photographer in American Folk, Utah, is the baby of the bunch (no word on whether or not she’s related to Jenna). She’s a self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie, which seems to line up with Luyendyk’s job, though she’s not super into touchy feely guys, so this love connection may be tricky. (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Jennifer Delaney: 25, Delaney is a graphic designer and artist from Northbrook, Illinois, who creates time lapse drawings of athletes. She’s a big fan of reality TV (you don’t say!) and fears picking the wrong partner to marry. *Gulp* (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Oliva Goethals: A Geneseo, Illinois, marketing associate, Goethals, also 23, says though she may be shy at first, she’s really very outgoing. We’ll say: She listed 50 Shades of Grey as her favorite book of all time! (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Tia Booth: Booth is a physical therapist residing in Weiner, Arkansas, who just wants to go to Chicago to eat. The 26-year-old has also been to Cancun in her day, where she visited a swingers’ resort, so perhaps The Bachelor house won’t be so crazy, after all! (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Ashley Luebke: This West Palm Beach, Florida, real estate agent, 25, cites Brad Pitt as her dream man — we wonder if Luyendyk will live up to her standards? (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Lauren Schleyer: The last of the Laurens, Lauren “S.” is 31 and resides in Dallas, Texas, where works as a social media manager. She’s dying to be part of T. Swift’s squad and she’s also very into avocados. “It’s the perfect food," she says. Well, we can't argue with that. (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Brittany T. : Brittany T., 30, is a tech recruiter that is SO over the dating app game. “That past two [men] I’ve met through dating apps and they’re terrible human beings,” she told ABC. Here’s to hoping she has better luck with Arie than she did in her hometown of Columbia, South Carolina!
(Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Ali Harrington: This 27-year-old personal stylist is from Lawton, Oklahoma, and says Nickelback as her favorite guilty musical pleasure. Eep! (We kid, we kid!) (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Marikh Mathias: This Salt Lake City, Utah, restaurant owner is already being compared to the likes of the Kardashians, though Mathias, 27, cites herself as more of a Meryl Streep type of gal. (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Lauren Jarreau: As the eldest of the bunch at 33, Jarreau is a recent Masters grad from New Roads, Lousiana, who enjoys eating full meals in bed (but really). “Like putting a legit body towel over me and ordering pizza — no plates needed.” (Photo via Craig Sjodin/ABC)
Which contestant are you rooting for? Share with us @BritandCo.
Which contestant are you rooting for? Share with us @BritandCo.
(Photos via Paul Hebert/ABC + Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty)
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures