[paulsutter]

To everyone arguing against his story: the trail of paperwork for CD Baby showed that it’s just an alias for Hit Media, so it would be hard for him to argue otherwise to the IRS or any other interested party. If you really did want to operate two separate businesses out of one bank account yes it’s possible but would be problematic without really clear and detailed records, starting with a separate set of books and tax returns.

As far as the story indicates, the separation between CD Baby and Hit Media was just in the author’s head. There’s nothing wrong with that, and I believe him, but the IRS would not. There would be too much incentive for people to generate complex recollections. Not to mention the trouble with business partners whether or not they are family.

[permatech]

Sounds like the whole “set up a company and let us buy shares” was a tax dodge and this kid’s ignorance got him burned

[gjmacd]

Not sure about the tax dodge, but more about the Dad loaning him $20K and getting something from the investment. I think a lot of people just do "DBA's" and think "I'll just cash that as an alias DBA..." -- there's implications to that. But if the money is not a lot, under $10K, it's not worth worrying about