Legal Licenses?

[JBServers]

Hello, I understand there are many legal issues and permits that must be purchased when starting a new business. Some I beleive are necessary to not be illegal. Such as to add an "inc" as in JBServers INC or some other extension. Do you know where you are supposed to go for these. I had researched about this and our hosting company is mainly based out of California which I found no laws that REQUIRED me to purchase a license or permit. Most of them were for true employees or for social security fraud and protection. Thankyou, I am just very curious.
:mic:



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[MadCow]

Normally adding an INC to your name is done for tax reasons and liability reasons. In florida you can register a business online and pay your corporation fees. You do not need a "business license".

Reasons for creating a corporation again, liability. If you get sued they cannot take your house, bank accounts, property.... all they can go after is what is in the business name. I personally like the LLC, you get the protection of a corperation and can elect to get taxed like an individual (corporations cause you to get taxed twice, once as business income and then once when you pay yourself).

Good luck!

 

[iblive]

In California, a good place to start is here: http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/business.htm

 

[ryaneinsites]

In Canada I had to register my business name and obtain a local business license. You have to charge GST if you make over $30,000 in a year. I also registered two trademarks for my company, one for domain name, the other for our business name.

 

[LeaseWeb]

In the Netherlands a corporation has to meet stringent rules to apply for what is called a BV (corporation). That way you know you are dealing with a company that has met some financial targets and has been scrutinized by the government.

 

[lcrhosting]

Anyone know of a good place in CT?

 

[MaxHost]

www.legalzoom.com is a good place to go if you want them to hold your hand through it. Remember along with a corporation comes required tax filings, annual reports (usually for a fee), and the minutes meetings. If you have no idea what these are, I would suggest you hold off, and just go with a sole proprietorship with your local city or county, until you are making good money. The biggest benefit to having a corporation is for legal purposes. That means when a client sues your business, they can only get your business assets, and not touch your house, etc. Although in Florida they can never get your house!

 

[dmetzcher]

(corporations cause you to get taxed twice, once as business income and then once when you pay yourself)

This is true, if you create a corporation (Corp or Inc). For MOST businesses, especially small businesses, creating a limited liability company (Ltd or LLC) is a better choice. You are not taxed (at least in most states) at the corporate level. In New Jersey, for example, the income of the company simply passes through to the owners of the business and they report it on their own income tax, state and federal. If your state does not have an income tax, even better.

Also consider that forming a corporation brings with it certain business practices that a one or two-person operation, or even ten people, may not want to abide by, such a meeting requirements, quarterly tax filings, etc. An LLC is more flexible. And, if you would like to change from an LLC to a Corp later (like when you want to go public), you can, or you can simply form a parent corporation and sell the LLC to the parent, then take the parent public.

My advice, because it's the same advice I got from every attorney I spoke to about it, is form an LLC if you are a small business starting from scratch. With the acceptance of one-person LLCs in all states now (I might be wrong, Mass. may still require two people), it's the easiest way to protect yourself from liability and the most flexible of all company models.

Get yourself a book called "Starting a Limited Liability Company" by Martin M. Shenkman. The book is ugly on the outside, but has a great deal of good information, and I've looked at many books on the subject.

By the way, most states let you create an LLC on their Web sites. I did with mine and had everything done in about two hours (I printed everything off and made sure it was all correct, so I took a little longer than I would imagine it would take), and that included the Federal EIN from the IRS.

Also, look around at many of the companies you deal with every day. Many are LLCs. CNN, for example is a good example of an LLC, and so is Avis rent a car).

Good luck.

 

[dmetzcher]

Anyone know of a good place in CT?

Check out the CT state Web site and look for the small business section. You can probably do it online. Most people will find this easy to do. Seek legal advice, if you feel you need it, but doing it yourself is an education in itself and worth the effort. Not to mention it saves you money from having to hire someone else to form the company for you.

If you want someone else to create the company, check out The Company Corporation at http://www.corporate.com. Or you can look around online for companies that specialize in this.