how do i start a corporation?
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Start Your Own Corporation\nFrom Darrell Zahorsky,\nYour Guide to Small Business Information.\nHave an Idea? Pitch a Story\nFREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!\n\nShould your small business become a corporation? This is a question you need to ask during the start-up and evolution of your company. Learn what you need to know about incorporating your small business.\n\nBill's years of hard work had finally paid off. Bill's company, a sole proprietorship computer business was earning solid profits and had built a large client base. Bill thought he had it made, until a part-time employee had "an accident" that wiped out a customer's computer system.\n\nIn a matter of months, Bill's dream business came tumbling down. Slapped with a lawsuit, the sole proprietor lost all his assets, savings, house, and marriage. If Bill had his company incorporated, his business and personal life would have been separated and had an additional layer of protection.\n\nncorporation reduces disasters.\n\nAccording to BizStats.com, only 22% of all the small businesses in America are a limited liability corporation, S corporation, or C corporation. Over 72% of businesses are solely operated and exposed to liability risk.\n\nThe decision to start your own corporation will vary, depending on the needs of the business and yourself. Consider the following benefits of incorporation:\n\nBenefits of Starting Your Own Corporation\n\n# Liability: A corporation exists as a separate legal entity from your personal life. Any debts or lawsuits are incurred by the company, not the owner. Any business with potential for lawsuits should consult with a lawyer and consider incorporation. Incorporating will offer an added layer of protection but it is still adviseable to obtain business liability insurance.\n\nThe bad debts will often be the responsibility of the corporation. In the case of bank financing, more and more banks require business owners to sign a personal guarantee; making your personal assets collectible on a defaulted loan. Consider your options before signing.\n\n# Taxation: Another main benefit to incorporating is the taxation of a company. Corporations are often taxed at a lower rate and have better taxable benefits. Talk to your accountant about the tax advantages.\n\n# Raising Money: Financing a small business as a sole proprietorship or partnership can be difficult. A corporation can sell shares of the company and raise money easier than other business structure types.\n\n# Selling the Business: A non-corporate business is hard to valuate properly. A business corporation value will be based on the business, not the owner, therefore making it easy to sell the company.\n\nStarting your own corporation can be more costly and time consuming than other business types. Your accountant and lawyer can advise you accordingly. The steps to incorporation are as follows:\n\n7 Steps to Start Your Own Corporation\n\n1: Choose a Corporate Name & Address: Have a corporate name search performed to ensure you are unique and have no trade mark problems in the future.\n2: Select A State to Incorporate: Setting up a corporation will be easier and cheaper in your home state than out of state.\n\n3: Select A Corporation Type: Determine the best type of corporation for your business--LLC, S corporation or C corporation.\n\n4: Determine Company Directors: Directors of the company and positions will have to be filed within the Articles of Incorporation and By-laws.\n\n5: Choose Your Share Type:Corporations can issue common and preferred stock. Select the best for your situation.\n\n6: Obtain Certificate of Incorporation: Available from local State office or business retailer.\n\n7: Process & File Incorporation: Your incorporation can be completed by a lawyer or a do-it-yourself kit. Finally, file your incorporation with a Registered Agent.\n\nThe decision to incorporate or not is an important one. Work with your advisors to determine if the time is right for
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if you can qualify as a minority there are programs available providing you have a business plan.\n\nYou can form a C Corp, and if 51% of the officers are female(preferable over 50), Hispanic, or Afro-American, or handicapped, you can most likely get it done.\n\nYour first call should be to your local Small Business Administration. They could direct you.
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Fill out a lot of forms.  A corporation is a legal entitiy and requires serious consideration.
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Try this site:\nhttp://www.sba.gov/starting_business/index.html
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You can do it yourself through the state ( http://www.stateofflorida.com/Portal/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=8 ), but the paperwork gets a bit confusing at times.  The easiest way to do it is to use an incorporation service such as: \nhttp://www.floridaincorporationservice.com/\n\nHope this helps!
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Go to the website of the California Secretary of State, see link below.\n\nYou can choose between the links for corporation vs. limited liability company or limited partnership.\n\nThere are several factors you should consider before selecting a corporation vs. LLC or vice versa.  Having said that, a lot of entrepreneurs are starting LLCs b/c they're overall easier to operate and the taxes flow through to you, the LLC itself doesn't pay taxes.\n\nTo start an LLC, go to the SECOND link below.  You'll find forms of articles of organization, plus filing fees.  One of the forms is LLC-1, this is the one you want.\n\nIf you're a sole proprietor and want to stay that way, you need to register your business name as a 'fictitious name'.  I believe in California you guys register those at the county level, so do a Yahoo search for your county and find their official site, and look around there for a form.  If nothing else, just call them.\n\nGood luck.
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Generally, there is no "requirement" to be a corporation, but corporations (in addition to LLCs) are nice for liability limitation.\n\nCorporations are reasonably cheap to form.  A nice neighborhood type lawyer will probably do the entire incorporation for you for few hundred dollars plus filing fees - including getting your EIN number, any sales tax registrations, and possibly filing your S-Corporation election (so that your corporation avoids "double-tax").   If you're not incorporating in NY but you're doing business there, you'll also want to consider "qualifying" your corporation to do business in NY.   Again, that is simple stuff that can be handled by a neighborhood lawyer.\n\nGood luck.
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If you're speaking of incorporating a business, a attorney can do it for you for a few hundred dollars; or, if you want to do it yourself, go to your state's Secretary of State's website.\n\nI recommend an attorney because they can also advise you which type of corporation you would want. There area few options: LLC, S corporation, etc. It's confusing if you're not familiar with the system.
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I'm not an accountant, but I have a corporation in Texas.  Either way, it's expensive and you're going to spend several hundred dollars, so if your business doesn't have much liability now, you may want to wait and just file a DBA as a partnership.\n\nFor either of them, you need to file with the Secretary of State, here's the link, it'll tell you how to file, fees, etc.\nhttp://www.sos.state.tx.us/corp/businessstructure.shtml\n\nWith your size business, if you go as a corporation, you should elect to be an "S" corp.  This is very easy and lets you pass any profits from the corporation to the shareholders as wages.  Any losses are passed to the shareholders and you deduct from you personal taxes.  The corporation files a year end tax form, and K-1 showing the percentages for each shareholder.  You then file a supplement page with your 1040.  \n\nThe main difference with the LLC I think is record keeping.  If you're a corporation, you need to have annual meetings, keep articles of incorporation, detailed records of any changes.  Costs are about the same.   I forget the filing fee, but I think it's like $400 to register the name and paperwork.  You don't need a lawyer if you can find the paperwork that'll show you what you need.\n\nFranchise tax is nothing to worry about.  As a corp in Texas, you need to file 2 forms with the state every tax year.  One just shows the names of the directors and the other is your income; but if it's less than $250,000, you don't owe anything.
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The simplest way to answer this is to see a need and fill it. \nThere are many different kinds of businesses out there \n( Large Corporations, small businesses, Franchises etc.). If you want to start your own, my suggestion is to take a Entrepreneur class at a local community college. It is not necessary but it will give you a good overall view of what may be ahead and answer alot of questions. \n\n1. have an idea on paper, write it all out, think it all the way thru, is it a service or a product? Will you make it yourself? resale? Who is your competition? and so on.\n\n2.Write down who your customers will be and why they will go to you rather than someone else.\n\n3.Do research on the area you think will be good to market in or set up shop. (surveys, cold calling, demographics,etc)\n\n4.If there is someone who is doing what you would like to, call and ask them politely if they would spend an hour or so to help you with your research. Come prepared with a good list of questions and be ready to do most of the listening. (AND MAKE SURE THEY ARE AT LEAST 40 MILES AWAY FROM WHERE YOU ARE THINKING OF LOCATING AS TO NOT COME ACROSS AS THEIR COMPETITION)\n\n5. The most important thing to remember is ** LOCATION **. As it is the second reason businesses fail. (the #1 reason they fail is poor money management)\n\n6. You will need to apply for a business license and place an newspaper ad with a ficticious business name. It is also a good idea to become incorporated, the tax benefits are well worth it.\n\n7. Make sure you weigh the pros and cons of being a business owner and that is it something you really want to do.\n\nAs for the best business is concerned, it should be one you have a passion for.
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You define it.   One is big enough.   Define your corporation, it's board, it's membership requirements, the products, mission, services.   It's a free country.  \n\nYou do not need any legal thing.  Down the road, you and your board of directors will define your organization clearer, and decide what corporate structure that you need.    A simply DBA might do the trick for many years.   But if you want to attain a non-profit status, you might have to incorporate further.   \n\nJust get started and DO something.
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You need to set up a Not-for-profit company on the state level.  Start with your states website.  Something like www.state.(two letter abbreviation of state).gov.\n\nYou can use any bank...use one you like.
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Contact your secretary of state.  Many secretary of state offices will have information on thier websites on how to establish a business.
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Forming a nonprofit corporation is much like creating a regular corporation, except that nonprofits have to take the extra steps of applying for tax-exempt status with the IRS and their state tax division. Here is what you need to do:\n\nChoose an available business name that meets the requirements of state law. \n\nFile formal paperwork, usually called "articles of incorporation," and pay a small filing fee (typically under $100). \n\nApply for your federal and state tax exemptions. \n\nCreate corporate "bylaws," which set out the operating rules for your nonprofit corporation. \n\nAppoint the initial directors. (In some states you must choose your initial directors before you file your articles, because you must list their names in the document.) \n\nHold the first meeting of the board of directors. \nObtain licenses and permits that may be required for your corporation. \n\nChoose a Business Name:\n\nBefore you form your nonprofit corporation, you need to decide on a name that complies with the rules of your state's corporate filing office. The information packet you receive from the filing office should contain your state's rules, but the following guidelines commonly apply:\n\n--The name of your nonprofit cannot be the same as the name of another corporation on file with the corporations division. \n--The name must end with a corporate designator, such as "Corporation," "Incorporated," "Limited," or "Corp.," "Inc.," or "Ltd." (This is required in only about half of the states.) \n--The name cannot contain certain words prohibited by the state, such as Bank, Cooperative, Federal, National, United States, or Reserve. \n\nYour state's corporations division can tell you how to find out whether your proposed name is available for your use. Often, for a small fee, you can reserve the name for a short period of time until you file your articles of incorporation.\n\nContact Your State's Corporations Division:\n\nYour state's corporate filing division, usually part of the secretary or department of state's office, will often send you a packet of nonprofit materials that will be immensely helpful to you in forming your nonprofit. This packet may include sample or fill-in-the blank articles of incorporation, your state's nonprofit corporation laws, a filing fee schedule, and forms and instructions for checking the availability of your proposed business name. Contact your state's corporate filing office to obtain this packet.\n\nIn addition to confirming that another corporation in your state isn't already using your proposed name, you must make sure your name won't violate a trademark owned by another company (in your state or out of state). To do this, you'll need to conduct a trademark search. For information about trademark law and name conflicts, see Naming Your Business.\n\nOnce you've found a legal and available name, you aren't usually required to file or reserve the name with your state -- when you file your articles of incorporation, your nonprofit's name will be automatically registered.\n\nPrepare and File Your Articles of Incorporation:\n\nAfter you've decided on your business name, you must prepare and file "articles of incorporation" with the corporate filing office. This document goes by a different name in a handful of states; your state may instead use the term "articles of organization," "certificate of incorporation," "certificate of formation," or "charter."\n\nYour state's corporate filing office will usually provide you with nonprofit articles of incorporation -- either a fill-in-the-blank form or a sample on which you can base your articles. Although preparing this document isn't difficult, you do need to include specific language to ensure that you'll receive tax-exempt status. Your state's nonprofit format
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You can go to your county and look for the business registration division. They would have all the documentation you need for starting a business.\n\nOr you can go to your Secretary of State website and look for links on Doing Business in [YOUR STATE]. That section will contain information on starting your business, and some states will even let you do everything online.
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Have a clear goal/purpose for the organization.  Get experienced volunteers on board to help you. You will need by-laws as well as incorporating documents.\n\nDepending upon the state, you may be able to file through the mail or internet. Try corporation comission, tax board or other regulatory agency. Usually your state web site is the best place to start. Articles of incorporation can be very simple, just fill in the blanks. You may need to do a name search to make sure no one else has your organization's name.\nIf you wish to be tax exempt check with your state tax board and irs.gov.\nYou will have to meet different qualifications depending upon which type of exemption you are looking for.\nTake some time now and fill out all the paper work. Keep a calandar of what forms are due when.  Your organization will have yearly and possibly quarterly forms that they must fill out. Make everyone aware of this.\nIf you plan to have a small budget the expenses are low but even a larger organization should be under $500 or so.
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(i) First you file the Articles of Incorporation with the Corporation Bureau.\n\nhttp://www.paopen4businessbriefcase.state.pa.us/tax/default.asp?LN=375&LG=37\n\nOnce the Articles have been approved:\n\n(ii) You prepare the by-laws of the Company\n\n(iii) You apply to the IRS for 501(c)3 - tax-exempt status