It Doesn't Grow on Trees
In a recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers Money Tree, nearly every part of the country set new venture capital records in 1999's third quarter. Silicon Valley broke the $3 billion mark for the first time, attracting $3.3 billion. New England ranked second with $923 million, while New York Metro, the Southeast and the DC Metropolitan area rounded out the top five, each capturing more than $600 million.
Close to $5 billion was invested outside the traditional markets of Silicon Valley and New England. In all, nine regions attracted more than $300 million each. Other regions included Colorado, Northwest, Los Angeles/Orange County, Texas and the Midwest.
Some particularly active venture capitalists reported funding 10 or more companies, investing $15 million or more in the same quarter.
The Money Tree site includes the latest survey findings in their entirety, as well as a virtual one-stop shop for anyone interested in learning more about venture capital funding. Find out who's investing and what kind of companies they're interested in backing at www.PWCMoneyTree.com.
If you're a VC newbie, don't fret: From the Money Tree site, click over to the Entrepreneurial Resource Center for advice on seeking funding, and sample business plans, templates and spreadsheets.
How Do You Spell Tax Relief?
Learning how to navigate the tax advantages of running your own business can be an education-but at least you stand to gain from the lessons. Understanding your responsibilities to Uncle Sam once you start hiring is another thing altogether. Fortunately, the government wants to make it easy; hence the Simplified Tax and Wage Reporting System (STAWRS). Think of it as painting by numbers, only with taxes.
STAWRS-a joint effort of the SBA, the Department of Labor, the Treasury Department, the IRS, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Social Security Administration-was established to reduce employers' tax- and wage-reporting burden through improving the current reporting processes. In other words, STAWRS allows you to significantly cut the risk of over- and underwithholding employees' taxes and social-security contributions. An entire section of the site is dedicated to startups and what new businesses need to know about their tax obligations.
STAWRS' "One-Stop Guide for Businesses" provides general tax information, includes a flowchart depicting basic business events that require tax and wage reporting, offers a list summarizing your basic responsibilities as an employer and refers to other tax-related publications that contain more detailed information. Much of the information in this guide refers to the federal tax requirements; however, the site also includes links to tax- and wage-reporting requirements for each state.
