Quick Incorporate

As a general rule, you can incorporate your business with no tax cost as long as you contribute all of your business’s assets and liabilities to a corporation you control.

A sole proprietor who incorporates his or her business, therefore, should be able to incorporate tax-free. So should a partnership. And a limited liability company that makes an election to be treated as a C corporation or as an S corporation should also be able to make these “incorporation” elections tax-free. Read the rest of this entry »

Incorporating a business has several advantages. Some of these advantages include: protecting the assets of the shareholders and officers, protecting the assets of the business from shareholder and officer’s actions, improving the image of the company, separating your personal and business credit and saving money on taxes.

Each of these benefits of incorporating can easily be taken away by making any one of the three typical mistakes new corporations make. There is no guarantee that just because you incorporate all your individual assets are protected from the business. In addition there is no guarantee that all the benefits a corporation offers will automatically happen. Read the rest of this entry »

As your business grows it is likely you will find that you need to grow the structure of the business to meet the demands. Many small businesses start out as a sole proprietorship, meaning you are responsible for everything, but soon with increasing income, partners and the need for more capital you may find it is time to change the legal structure to take advantage of tax savings, liability concerns and the ability to raise capital to expand.

Corporations provide the ability for a business to raise capital through share offerings, to exist as their own entity and reduce the personal liability of its owners and shareholders. In addition, there are tax advantages that come with being a corporation – such as the ability to write off health and benefit plans of employees. It is often said that a corporation has a “life of its own” and as such, can exist well beyond the lifetime of the original owners. Read the rest of this entry »

Incorporating is the standard for many in business today because of the level of protection it provides in protecting your personal assets against the claims of creditors and lawsuits.

Starting a corporation involves filing the Articles of Incorporation (also called a Charter, Certificate of Incorporation), listing the purpose of the corporation, its principal place of business and the number and type of shares of stock.

It’s important to carefully consider the type of business entity that is right for you. You may feel an LLC is more suitable for you because it is often a more flexible form of ownership, especially suitable for smaller companies with a limited number of owners. Read the rest of this entry »

Businesses can be incorporated in any state in the U.S., regardless of where the business is operated. Corporate laws vary from state to state. Many small business owners prefer to incorporate in their own state, to reduce costs as well as to simplify the incorporation process. If a business owner incorporates in a different state, then he still needs to qualify himself to conduct business in his own state. Business owners incorporating in their own state, also save on paying franchise taxes and filing annual reports in two different states. Business owners usually choose the state where they want to incorporate, depending on the taxation rules of the state and their registration requirements. Delaware and Nevada are the most favored states for incorporation as they are very corporate-friendly. Incorporating in Nevada has extraordinary benefits for business owners such as tax benefits and liability protection benefits. Read the rest of this entry »