How do I account for reward points? How can I park the funds for reward redemption without taxing the funds as income until they are used for rewards?

The income should be reported by the individual or business that provided the service and earned the income. If the 1099 is in your name, you could ask the issuing Company to change to the S-Corp if that is who earned the income. In the future, have a written agreement between your S-Corp and the Company you are providing service. Also, provide them with a Form W9, so they know where to report the 1099 income at year end.

I developed and published mobile apps as an individual for several years, and only formed a corporation later as things grew and it made sense. As far as Apple's App Store and Google Play are concerned, you can register as an individual developer without having a corporation. I'd be happy to help further over a call if you have any additional questions. Best of luck with your mobile app!

I'm assuming you're talking about yourself, working for another company? The first thing to consider is that a "1099" is NOT an employee, rather an "independent contractor". The IRS takes it seriously when a company claims 1099 contractors, when in fact, these contractors are treated as employees (the IRS wants payroll tax and will fine companies that miscategorize). To be a 1099 contractor, rather than an employee (W-2), you must have complete control over your schedule - when you work, how much ect. There are other criteria, but this is the main one - you must clearly not be treated the same as an employee. The other thing to consider is that if you are a 1099 contractor, you are responsible for paying and submitting your own income tax and self employment tax to the state and the IRS. It is more advantageous for a company to pay you as a 1099 contractor as they save paying employer portion of payroll taxes. Also you will not count as an employee for the Affordable Care Act (which impacts companies with over 50 employees). Hope this helps. Kathryn

I've discussed ideas with hundreds of startups, I've been involved in about a dozen startups, my business is at $1M+ revenue. The bad news is, there is no good way to protect ideas. The good news is, in the vast majority of cases you don't really need to. If you're talking to people about your idea, you could ask them to sign an NDA ("Non Disclosure Agreement"), but NDAs are notoriously hard to enforce, and a lot of experienced startup people wouldn't sign them. For example, if you asked me to sign an NDA before we discussed your Idea, I'd tell you "thanks, but no thanks". This is probably the right place though to give the FriendDA an honorable mention: http://friendda.org/. Generally, I'd like to encourage you to share your Ideas freely. Even though telling people an idea is not completely without risk, generally the rewards from open discussions greatly outweigh the risks. Most startups fail because they build something nobody wants. Talking to people early, especially people who are the intended users/customers for your idea can be a great way to protect yourself from that risk, which is considerably higher than the risk of someone taking off with your idea. Another general note, is that while ideas matter, I would generally advise you to get into startup for which you can generate a lot of value beyond the idea. One indicator for a good match between a founder and a startup is the answer to the question: "why is that founder uniquely positioned to execute the idea well". The best way to protect yourself from competition is to build a product that other people would have a hard time building, even if they had 'the idea'. These are usually startups which contain lots of hard challenges on the way from the idea to the business, and if you can convincingly explain why you can probably solve those challenges while others would have a hard time, you're on the right path. If you have any further questions, I'd be happy to set up a call. Good luck.

You should retain a lawyer, or another qualified individual, to act as the third party designee for the corporation (if you do not have a partner or co-owner who is a US citizen). The designee should prepare Form SS-4 (Application for Employer Identification Number) and Form 8821 (Tax Information Authorization) for the corporation’s president to sign and return.