Incorporation and LLC Formation

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Buying a franchise does not automatically provide you with limited liability.  The franchisor may be a corporation or LLC but that does not make your own franchise business a corporation or LLC.  You must still form your own corporation or LLC in order to obtain the benefits of limited liability.  Otherwise, you will have a…

Here is an interesting tidbit presented by the California Estate and Business Law Blog.

According to Turbotax the S Corporation has the lowest risk of audit for the various business entities.  Those audit risk percentages are:

S corporations   .19%

Partnerships     .26%

C Corporations    .71%

Sole Proprietorships     2.13%

But if you play…

New York Small Business lawyer Imke Ratschko presents a helpful e-book on her blog "Small Business Guide to Risk Management – A complete guide for business decision-makers" published by the Association of Small Business Development Centers.

This easy to read guide discusses the many risks that businesses face and provides checklists to assess those risks…

Perhaps often overlooked, the Iowa Secretary of State Web site is an excellent resource for the Iowa start-up entrepreneur.  In the Iowa business services section of the site a business person can find information about a wide variety of topics including:

1.  A guide to the most commonly formed business organization options.  The guide…

In the last post I discussed incorporation and asset protection.  An often overlooked area of asset protection is estate planning.  My partner, Matt Gardner of Sullivan & Ward, P.C., has started a new Wealth and Estate Planning blog.  In his blog Matt will discuss estate planning, probate, small business planning and asset protection. …

Many advertisements on the Internet tout the benefits of forming a corporation.  The first benefit typically mentioned is that a corporation provides "limited libility".  Many of these companies would have you believe that if you form your own company for $99.00 you can magically protect your assets from creditors.  But asset protection is more than…

An often neglected agreement in the formation of a small business is the buy-sell agreement.  Every business that has multiple owners should consider having a buy-sell agreement.  Such an agreement covers how an owner can sell shares and how to value those shares.  Further, a good buy-sell agreement sets forth what happens in the…

Where should I incorporate my small business?  I hear this question a lot from would be entrepreneurs in Iowa.  The question used to surprise me but after seeing the numerous advertisements for Delaware and Nevada corporations on the Internet I suppose it is a legitimate question.

Delaware has reputation and history on its side.  Delaware’s…

The Limited Liability Company is a hybrid form of doing business that combines characteristics of the corporate structure and the partnership structure. It is a separate entity like a corporation and therefore carries liability protection for all of its members/owners, but is generally taxed like a partnership which has the benefit of flow-through taxation.

The…