How to Form Your Own Corporation Without a Lawyer
Starting a business requires a little luck, careful planning and a good understanding of your market. The type of business entity you decide on is critical to your business's success. Corporations are a common business structure. Choosing to form your own corporation is not something you should jump right into. Consider the tax advantages and liability protections in light of having to follow state corporate business laws, like record keeping.
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Instructions
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File articles of incorporation with your state's business corporations division. An articles of incorporation form is available from your state's business corporations division. It typically costs between $100 to $800 to file this paperwork, according to Nolo.com.
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Distribute shares to the owners of the corporation. Once you file the articles of incorporation, you have technically formed the corporate entity. The next step is to distribute shares to the incorporators (you and your investors).
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Hold a shareholders meeting and elect the corporation's board of directors. Keep minutes of this meeting, detailing who is elected and how the vote was conducted. State business laws generally require a corporation to have at least two directors in order to do business as a corporation.
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Hold the first meeting of the board of directors and draft your corporation bylaws. The bylaws detail the management of your corporation (how directors are to be elected in the future, how votes are conducted, when and where meetings are held, etc). Keep minutes of this meeting detailing what happened.
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Obtain any state-required licenses or permits to do business. After filing the articles of incorporation, electing the board and drafting your bylaws, you can generally start doing business under your corporate entity---but you may need to obtain state-required business licenses before doing so.
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References
- Photo Credit business is business - cliche image by Jeffrey Zalesny from Fotolia.com
