Fractional CFO Services in Detroit

Every corporation doing business in Detroit files a city corporate return whether or not it has an office there, and S corporations file as corporations at 2.0%. A partnership files its own annual city return, due the 15th day of the fourth month after year end, and its partners are taxed at the individual rates. An employer doing business in Detroit without a location there still withholds the city tax.

A contractor is the consumer of the materials it affixes to someone else's real property. It pays sales tax when it buys them, or 6% use tax if none was charged, and it can't bill the tax to the customer separately. It can build the tax into its price as overhead, and a general contractor isn't liable for an independent subcontractor's use tax. More on fractional controllers for construction companies.

The owner records a notice of commencement before work starts. Subcontractors and suppliers serve a notice of furnishing within 20 days of first furnishing; a general contractor working directly for the owner needs none. A late notice doesn't void the lien, but it reduces the lien by payments the owner made under sworn statements or waivers before receiving it. The claim of lien is recorded within 90 days after last furnishing, and the foreclosure suit is filed within one year of recording.

Under the Builders' Trust Fund Act, money paid to a contractor or subcontractor for building construction is a trust fund for the payer, laborers, subcontractors and suppliers, and the contractor is the trustee. On public work, the agency may retain up to 10% until the job is 50% in place, then no more unless progress is unsatisfactory or for a specific cause. Retainage sits in an interest-bearing account and is released with the final payment. Contracts with MDOT, school districts, community colleges and MSHDA, and contracts under $30,000, fall outside that retainage rule.

Yes, for every tax Treasury administers under the Revenue Act, not only sales tax. The buyer has to escrow enough of the purchase money to cover the seller's unpaid taxes, interest and penalties until the seller produces a Treasury receipt or a certificate that nothing is due. With the seller's written waiver, Treasury discloses what is owed within 60 days, and an escrowing buyer owes no more than that amount, or nothing if Treasury misses the deadline. A buyer who skips the escrow is personally liable up to the business's fair market value, less proceeds applied to superior secured debt. More on the first months of a newly acquired business.

Yes, when they protect the employer's reasonable competitive business interests and are reasonable in duration, geography and type of work. A court may narrow an unreasonable covenant and enforce it as limited. Michigan sets no salary threshold or notice requirement for them.

Michigan taxes business personal property, but a company whose commercial and industrial personal property in a city or township, counting related entities, has a true cash value under $180,000 is exempt. Under $80,000, a one-time Form 5076 filed with the city or township by February 20 of the first year claimed keeps the exemption in place. Between $80,000 and $180,000, the company files the personal property statement and the Form 5076 attestation every year by February 20. Late claims go to the March Board of Review.

Companies under 250 employees get 3% of qualifying Michigan research expenses up to the base, the average of the prior three calendar years, plus 15% above it. Companies with 250 or more get 3% plus 10%, and expenses incurred with a Michigan research university add 5%, each with its own cap. C corporations claim the credit against the corporate income tax and flow-through entities against withholding, with the tentative claim due March 15 after each calendar year.