Legally Easy

Do you run a small business, partnership or non-profit activity? If you are operating as a sole proprietorship, without the protection of a legal entity, you should consider limiting your liability and risk by incorporating. Incorporation is now easy and inexpensive and you can do it yourself! Operating a home based business or non-profit activity has many virtues. You can set your own hours, and you can avoid the hassles of commuting by working where you live. Using the Internet, you can serve your customers and clients any where in the world, without an expensive office. Did you know, however, that if you are operating as a sole proprietorship, a dba, or in an otherwise non-incorporated status, you are risking significant liability that could include claims against your home and your other personal assets? Also, if you want to apply for business loans, or add partners, investors and employees, you should consider incorporation to form a legal company. Incorporation is easy, if you use a service like RocketLawyer.com to help you incorporate yourself and save. You simply need to:

1. Go to http://www.RocketLawyer.com/incorporation.aspx
2. Select the form of organization. The following organizational forms may be chosen Pick the one that is right for your business or activity:
• Corporation. A corporation is considered a "legal personality" and, when properly formed and administrated, provides limited liability to the owners. Corporations are taxed independently of the owners, creating the "double taxation" situation that business owners can seek to avoid with another form of organization, such as a Subchapter S-Corporation, an LLC or a Limited Partnership.
• Subchapter S-Corporation. An S-Corp for federal income tax purposes is a corporation that elects in a valid filing, to be taxed pursuant to Subchapter S of Chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code. In the S-Corp context, the corporation does not pay taxes, but, instead the taxes of the corporation are allocated to the owners personally.
• Limited Liability Company (LLC). A limited liability company is a business entity that combines features of both a corporation and a partnership. It is considered by many experts to be more flexible and a better fit for small companies than a corporation. An LLC can provide both limited liability and pass-through taxation, so that the owners can "pass-through" business profit and loss to their personal tax returns, avoiding the "double taxation" of a corporation.
• Limited Partnership. In a partnership, the owners (partners) share the profits or losses of the business with each other. However, the partners may be held personally liable for the actions of the partnership to a greater extent than for a corporation or LLC.
• Non Profit Corporation. A non profit entity is an incorporated organization that is not obligated to pay taxes, by statute, because it is, by its organization, not intended to provide a profit to its owners or members.
3. Enter the basic organizational information like owners' name(s), address, etc.

Once you have filled out the simple form to set up your new company, Rocket Lawyer's Easy Legal Care^TM service gives you everything you need to create corporate minutes, and hundreds of legal agreements to keep the legal side of your business operating smoothly. If you need he assistance of a corporate lawyer, you can find a lawyer using your Rocket Lawyer Business Lawyer listings. Our featured corporate attorney is Jay Parkhill of Virtual Law Partners LLP .

Labels: business formation, corporation, form a company, incorporate, incorporation, limited liability company, limited partnership, llc, non profit, partnership, s corp, subchapter s