If your parent helps you in your small business, you can pay them whatever their labor is worth. This gives them earned income which allows them to contribute funds to their Roth IRA. You then have them list you as the beneficiary on their Roth IRA. Thus, you have a mechanism to put more funds in a Roth IRA for your benefit. The maximum Roth IRA contribution is $8,000 – so if you paid them $8,000, you could have $8,000 more funds in a Roth IRA for your benefit. If your parents are both alive and both work for you, then double this amount. Caution: You can’t pay your parents more than you would pay anyone else for the same work…so if they don’t work for you, then ignore this idea.
Accounting and Consulting