Incorporating Your Business - The Ups And Downs Of The Process

The first question to a budding businessman or womanfrom putting into practice a decision that may be
is why you should incorporate your business in the firstharmful to the organization.
place. Can you run a successful business withoutReasons For Not Incorporating Your Business
incorporating your business? Of course you can. TheThere are downsides of incorporating a business as
main reason for incorporating your business is towell. They may be fewer in number but are not less
protect your personal assets against a business liability.significant. The reasons for not incorporating your
If your business gets into a debt situation and onlybusiness are the following:
liquidating assets seems to be the way out, your Incorporating a business requires a huge
personal assets will not be touched if you haveamount of paperwork and records than sole
incorporated your business.proprietorship. Also, each state has its own laws for
You can rest assured that your home, car or personalincorporating businesses to ensure stability and
assets will not be seized if your business has beenstrength. Your may not be ready to do all that.
incorporated. However, incorporating your business is Costs of setting up a corporation are also
not entirely a very happy scene. Why? Read on tohigh compared to the other business structures.
learn about it. If your profits are not very high, you will miss
Before we discuss the merits and demerits ofout on all the tax benefits of running a corporation.
incorporating your business, let us learn about theWith advantages and disadvantages of incorporating a
different types of corporations that your businessbusiness clearly stated, say you do want to
could register as.incorporate your business. Now the next important
Types of Corporationso General Corporation - this isquestion arises. Where do you want to incorporate
the most common type of corporation. It consists of ayour business? Your hometown is the best place to
number of stockholders and the corporation as a legalincorporate your business. However, it has merits and
entity, is owned by them. The stockholders aredemerits to it.
protected from the creditors of the business. TheMerits of incorporating your business in your
stockholders are responsible only as far as thehometown:a. The simplest thing to do if you plan to run
investment to the business.o Close Corporation - this isyour business only in your stateb. Do away with filing
similar to General Corporations except in the numberannual reports of your company in more than one
of stockholders. In a close corporation, the number isstatec. Costs involved are less if you incorporate your
limited to 50. The shares of the company are first soldbusiness in your own state
among the existing stockholders and only then sold toThe best states to incorporate your business are
new stockholders.o S Corporation - this type ofknown to be Delaware and Nevada.
corporation is a slight modification of existingWhy do people choose Delaware for incorporating
corporations. It includes a certain tax designationtheir business?
granted by IRS to existing corporations.o LLC (LimitedWith more than 700,000 companies choosing
Liability Corporation) - this type of corporation seemsDelaware as their legal home, it has rightfully earned
to be a better form of corporation than a partnershipthe title "Incorporating Capital of the world".
or an S corporation. This is because it combines Delaware General Corporation Law is the
protection of personal assets and tax advantagesmost advanced and the most flexible business statute
without IRS restrictionsin the continent
Reasons To Incorporate Your Business The State Government is pro-business and
If you are planning to start a small business, there arefriendly
many reasons why you should incorporate your Costs to incorporate in Delaware is one of
business.the lowest in the country
The reasons, as stated by experts, are as follows: The business Court of Chancery has
 Reduce personal liability - if you run a soleauthored most of the modern U.S. incorporation law
proprietorship, all your personal assets are liable to riskWhy do people choose Nevada to incorporate their
in the case of any business debt. But if your businessbusiness?
is incorporated, your personal assets and business No corporate income tax on corporate
remain two distinctly separate identities. Your personalshares
assets will not be affected if your business incurs any No franchise tax and no personal income
debt.tax
 Save tax - corporations have to pay less Minimum annual fees
tax than individuals. If you are incorporated, insurance, Stockholders are not made public and
entertainment and travel all become tax deductible asdirectors need not necessarily be stockholders
business expenses. Stockholders and directors may not reside in
 Enhance credibility - LLC or Inc after yourNevada or need not be U.S. citizens
company name puts you in good standing to potentialYou have quit your job, as your head is full of
customers and vendors. It legitimizes your businessentrepreneurial ideas. You want to start a business.
potential.Apart from choosing the market and the product, the
 Assurance of continuity - corporationsfirst thing that you need to think about is incorporating
indicate continuity beyond an individual or owner. Theyour business. What is incorporating a business? What
company does not shut down with the death of theare the advantages and disadvantages of
owner.incorporating your business? Is incorporating your
 Investor friendly - corporations attractbusiness area specific? All such questions have been
investors through stocks. Investors will buy stocks onlydealt with in this article.
if they see the company is incorporated.Once the skeleton of your business is ready and the
 Quick transfer of ownership - corporationslaunch pad is set, the only thing left to do is to
can switch owners only with sale of stocks.incorporate your business. That is, if you want to
 Share responsibility - no single partnerincorporate your business. Incorporating your business
decides on company rules and policies. Every partnermeans your business name will become a Limited
takes up responsibility. This protects the companycompany or a LLC company, Inc. etc.