Forming a corporation usually proves an advantageous step in furthering your goal of making your business successful. Forming a corporation or an LLC provides many benefits which elude the sole proprietors and partnerships.
The first and foremost benefit provided by incorporation of your business is that it forms a protective shield around your personal assets. If your business is not a separate legal entity, for which you need to incorporate it, your personal liability for debts incurred by your business is unlimited.
Besides this very basic and apparent benefit of incorporating your business, there are several other benefits of incorporation. However, a detailed discussion of all those issues is beyond the scope of this article.
Question here is if you want to incorporate your business, how are you supposed to go about it Well, the first question that needs a clear-cut answer is-where should you incorporate The simplest and most accurate answer to this question is- incorporate in the state where you intend to conduct the majority of your corporations business. If you will be doing business in only one state, incorporate in that state. The laws related to incorporation will no doubt vary from state to state. So, can there be any such situation where you may be tempted to incorporate your business in a state other then the one in which a majority of its business is intended to be conducted Well, there might very well be such situations, influenced by several factors-tax rates, for example.
You can compare the cost of incorporation in each state. Also find out what the corporate laws of different states have to say about the rights of the creditors Will these criteria impact your decision
Anyone having a basic understanding of incorporation software will tell you that a corporations life begins upon the filing of articles of incorporation with the Secretary of States Office. Then, any corporation will need a board of directors to manage its affairs. A director may or may not be a shareholder or an officer of the corporation. These directors are elected by the shareholders for a fixed term, which can very well be a life-term directorship, too. The board of directors then appoints the officers to run the day-to-day affairs of the business. Any officer or director also takes on the responsibility of the registered agent of the corporation. This registered agent is the one who receives official correspondence and notices in the unfortunate event of the corporation being served with a lawsuit. The issue of stock and stockholders also needs to be worked out and types of stocks e.g. common stock or preferred stock, and the modalities of their issuance are to be thrashed out.
Thus, its quite obvious that before your business can start running as a corporation, there is an entire process involved in incorporation that needs to be carried out. Previously, the only assistance you could have hoped to get to help you in a step-by-step manner in carrying out this entire process is by hiring a competent attorney. That help is still very much available and most persons looking to incorporation software their business still take that route. But thanks to rapid strides in technology, a host of other helpful tools have also become available in recent years to take you through this entire process with as little anxiety and hiccup as possible.
Incorporation software is one such amazingly great tool available at your fingertips. Many companies now sell incorporation softwares and you can easily purchase the software you want, online at the companys website. Most of the websites selling their incorporation software use SSL i.e. Secure Sockets Layer standard security technology which creates an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link keeps all data exchanged between web server and browser, private and integral, thus ensuring the protection of online transactions between the website and its customers.
Now, out of various incorporation softwares available for purchase at different websites, you will have to choose and buy the one which you think will prove most helpful to you. This will obviously require comparing the attributes and features of different incorporation software available. As a general guide of what all you should look for in incorporation software, some points are mentioned here.
* To reserve a name for your business
* For creating articles of incorporation in tune with your States official forms
* To assist you in preparing corporations bylaws
* In preparation of minutes of first board meeting
* To look for corporate and legal tax breaks
Good incorporation software from a reputed vendor will bring a do-it-yourself focus to the entire process of incorporation. Most good softwares require you to just fill in your information and the software will produce personalized forms. Really cool software is the one which will provide you with personalized official incorporation forms used in the state in which you want to incorporate, and not just some generic forms. Today, many vendor sell software which contains all the require forms, plus lots and lots of necessary info and detailed instructions, for every state in the USA. These softwares also provide you a package containing background information about the various structural choices that are available to you, as a business owner, prior to its incorporation. This information proves valuable in ensuring that you create, register and document your business correctly, and when it comes to creating the legal corporate structure of your business, you know beforehand which the right choice is for you. Many vendors also provide technical support for a specified period of time, which is usually one year. So in case of any difficulty in using the software, you can always discuss that with the companys support representative. Some companies also provide upgrade assurance with their software, which means that if they release a new version of their software within a year of your purchase, you will be updated to that newer version for FREE.
Thus, incorporation software is a really helpful tool and if you are planning to incorporate your business, go ahead and buy good software from a reputed vendor.