Update: This offer has expired, but there is a coupon code CABIN-20D good for an additional $20 off their $49 dollar LLC or Incorporation filing package. Net price under 30 bucks!
In case your plans include formalizing your business ventures, MyCorporation is offering their LLC formation and incorporation filing services for free until 1/31 with the coupon code MYFREE. You must still pay shipping fees and the filing fees charged by each state.
Free Corps & LLCs: Regular price of $149 is being waived when coupon MYFREE is used to obtain discount. Document shipping, state fees, publication fees, and additional product fees are additional. Discount valid for orders placed for a new corporation or limited liability company only. Prices subject to change without notice. Limit one discount or coupon per order. Coupon is not valid on any other product or service. You must enter/mention the coupon code at the time your order is placed. Coupon or discount is not valid on previous orders. Refunds/credits/adjustments will not be issued on prior orders.
MyCorporation is owned by Intuit, makers of TurboTax and Quicken. I view such online incorporation services as similar to TurboTax for taxes. Yes, you could fill out your 1040 tax forms manually, but it’s much easier to go through a question-and-answer software that walks you through it and explains the steps. However, if you’re talking about a huge business or something that is complex, then you should hire a professional to handle it (accountant for taxes, lawyer for incorporation).
When I formed my S-Corporation, I used one of their primary competitors LegalZoom and paid about $150 for the service – not including the state filing fees and shipping – so having it done for free seems to be a great deal. (I’m sure they’ll try to upsell you some additional services.) It was good to have someone look over the forms before submitting, while avoiding thousand of dollars of fees from a lawyer for our little venture.
The decision between staying a sole proprietor/partnership or forming an LLC/corporation is not always simple. If you’d like to dig into the details, I recommend the book LLC or Corporation? How to Choose the Right Form for Your Business from Nolo Press. I chose to go the S-Corp route primarily for the payroll tax savings.
(You can even have a LLC and chose to have it taxed as an S-Corp, as if things weren’t confusing enough!)
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Wow, I wish we had something like this back here in the Philippines. My wife and I are about to start own corporation and frankly I don’t know where to start. I’m considering hiring someone to do it for us. Might be expensive but I believe it should be worth it.
I want to provide a quick and simple overview to the when to formalize your business / when to stay a sole proprietor (or partnership). The primary reason you should be looking at an LLC, LLP, C-Corp, or S-Corp is liability protection. If you own a business and something happens that causes you to become liable, it’s your butt and assets on the line.
Example: Let’s say you buy a nice investment property and rent it out to make a small income on the side. If you personally own the property and something happens (ie. slip and fall), you are personally liable. If they sue and the judgement is for some extremely large amount (say $1 mil), it’s your personal accounts and assets (home, car, etc) that their lawyer(s) can go after as the basis of repayment. How would you like to lose everything because of a simple accident?
A company is like another entity. I has it’s own tax ID. It can enter legal agreements. Best of all, it can take the blame. If you owned that property through a business, only the business’s assets would be at risk (the property it owns and any money it may have). You’re safe personally, and so is your house, cars, and savings.
This is just a very basic overview. Companies are useful for protection and can be useful for tax purposes as well. If this blog post got you thinking about whether you are in a “need to incorporate” situation, I hope this comment moved you closer to a definitive yes or no. If you are leaning towards yes, then I advise you to read up on the different corporation types, tax advantages, and liability advantages.
Another way to gain some protection is through umbrella insurance (say for a rental property). A company is probably better in most instances, but this is a quick fix to start protecting yourself.
Am I the only one that found incorporating to be extremely simple? All I had to do was file a form with my Sec. of State (Articles of Incorporation). Pay the state fee and fill out a form with the IRS to get a Federal Tax ID. I’m not understanding why people pay for this “service”. Maybe things are simple here in Georgia or maybe I left something out but incorporating should just be a simple matter of filing the correct forms with your state and filing the correct forms with the FEDs. It doesn’t require anything extremely complex.
Even becoming an “S” corp is just a matter of sending in a form to the IRS once you have incorporated (IRS form 2553).
I think the problem comes from “not knowing where to start”. Start with your Secretary of State. They should have a website with steps listed to incorporate. You don’t even have to state an official purpose of your business (it can be very vague).
The only issues I can think of right now are with company name. If you really plan on conducting business outside of your state and need a unique name then there are extra hoops to jump through to get a name reserved and trade marked. I didn’t do any of that so I can’t comment on that process.
Learn the process before paying someone to do it for you. You might just save a bunch of money.
I second Robert’s opinion and have done the same myself at one time. What I think you should pay for if you are serious about growing a national business is a name search and trademarking advice. Even then, filing a trademark application with the USPTO (US Patent & Trademark Office) is as easy as filling out the form and sending in something like $450, which you don’t get back if they reject your application. This is where it would be beneficial to pay someone else.
Basically, all you need to do is file an Articles of Incorporation with your state, an IRS form for a federal tax ID, and an election for an S-Corp form with the IRS if you plan on making your C-Corp an S-Corp for tax purposes.
Between sba.gov and your state’s Secretary of State website, hopefully you can save that $150 or whatever it costs for them to fill in blanks and mail it in. If you need anything serious, like a business name search or trademark / brand protection advice, I would go with a specialized firm or even a local business attorney. It could be well worth your money in that regard.
This is a general misconception out there about how much an attorney should charge to set up a company. People hear stories about attorneys charging $1,000 to set up a business and assume that is how much they will be charged. Good business attorneys who have an undertanding of the needs of small business owners can provide a value-added service for a minimal fee. For example, I charge $250 (plus filing fee) for a single-member LLC set-up. For that money, you get a 30-minute meeting to discuss tax and liability protection and how to fill out paperwork properly, along with the knowledge that all of your set-up paperwork has been properly completed by an attorney. In my opinion, a business attorney has not done his job properly if the client does not feel like they received true value for the money paid to set up a business.
As an LLC, do you have to file income tax regardless of whether you have income/expenses or not? Just wondering.
One other thing I had to do as part of the process was pay a local news paper to print my notice of incorporation in the paper. It was required by my state….probably something the news paper lobby came up with.
How much is shipping and state fees for mi?
Set up my own S-corp myself using nothing but a book… Just paid the filing fees. It’s really not that hard.
Now how do you close one? I did this last year, never did anything with it, but do not want to get in tax trouble… How do I close my “S” corporation?
You only get in tax trouble for not paying taxes. If you haven’t made any taxable profits in a given fiscal year, then there is nothing to worry about. You technically do not have to even file with the IRS if you didn’t make any money, though they will eventually sending you a letter asking you why you didn’t. In response, you just check the box that the company had no taxable income.
To terminate a corporation, you need to first file an Articles of Dissolution with your state. There is then a form you can file with the federal government (the agency that issued your TIN, or tax identification number) and/or the IRS to state the company is dissolved.
Remember, the worst thing that can happen (provided you aren’t avoiding paying taxes) is you get some letters asking why you didn’t file something. Depending on your state, you may be required to file annually (or a specified interval) a form to renew your corporate charter. If you don’t, the state may revoke said charter and your company would be dissolved anyways.