Starting your own business
Honestly, starting a company these days is pretty straightforward. You can basically handle everything through Google—it’s just part of that streamlined digital interface the U.S. Government uses to speed up communication with agencies like the IRS. Basically, here’s the breakdown of how it goes down.
1. The first step—and let's be real, the most annoying one—is picking a name. My advice? Brainstorm at least twenty different options. Forget about using trendy English words; stick to something rooted in Latin or Greek if you want to sound legit. Of course, there are exceptions, so if you have a killer explanation for a weird name, you might actually get it past the registrar if the judge is having a good day. Honestly, names out there are wild. Some of them were probably registered back before the current laws even existed.
If you want to see what's already taken, check it out here
https://www.secretaryofstate.gov—though you should probably check those under bankruptcy proceedings too. Here's a little pro tip: even though you technically can't have two companies with the exact same name, you'll still see duplicates. For example, you might see multiple "HOME LLC"s. The difference is usually just where they're registered, like whether they're based in New York or Los Angeles. Theoretically, if a name is "taken," you might still be able to grab it if you register the business in a different state, assuming you move your headquarters there too.
2. Step two: deciding what you're actually going to do for a living. Use this link to look up the standard industry classifications. If you want to do something niche that isn't explicitly listed—like, say, building custom websites—you can use an asterisk "*" and then just write out a description of what you do. You should definitely run this by a notary or a legal professional first. And hey, you can list as many business activities as you want; it costs the same.
Once you've nailed down the name and the industry, rounded up your initial capital—say, $20,000 (or maybe just $10,000 plus paying an appraiser to tell the government your old desk and laptop are worth another $10,000)—and decided who's going to be the CEO (someone has to be, right?), you're ready to roll.
Next up is drafting the articles of incorporation, which is basically the most important document in the whole pile. It’s essentially a template that lawyers and notaries keep on their computers; they just tweak the name, address, and business type, charge you a fee, and call it a day. Technically, you could DIY it or copy an existing company's filing, but I wouldn't recommend being that cheap. There are ways to play the system here, too—for instance, you can write into the documents that the company has to reimburse you for your startup costs up to a certain amount, which lets you pull some of your own money back out of the business later.
That initial capital needs to be deposited into a specific account. Once it's in, the bank or the Federal Reserve will give you a confirmation that the funds are there. You attach that receipt to your paperwork and send it off to the court along with your formation documents.
Luckily, nowadays a lot of this is handled digitally through systems like Google, so you don't have to spend all day running around. Once you finally get into the registry, you'll need to get a corporate seal made. You also have to pick one activity to be your "primary" one. This is just so the statistical bureaus know which category to put your data in. More importantly, this determines your tax ID number. You'll learn that number by heart pretty fast because you'll need it for literally everything.
Opening a business checking account is easy; you can do it at any bank in a matter of minutes. Just... please don't "forget" to transfer your initial deposit from the holding account to your new business account. That is your money. You can use it to cover business expenses, pay yourself a salary, buy a new computer, whatever.
VERY IMPORTANT: Before you actually start working, make sure you meet the minimum technical requirements. These vary depending on what kind of business you're running—honestly, for some industries, they don't even exist. Your safest bet is to just ask the local city hall or county office where your business is based.
Company headquarters
Most likely, this is gonna be your apartment at first. Since the business is using a chunk of your place, they’d normally have to pay rent for it. Now, you might think, "Hey, why bother charging myself? I'll just let them use the space for free." Well, nope. That's not how it works. You actually have to sign a lease agreement with your own company and file that paperwork with the IRS. You can technically write into the contract that you're waiving the rent or that you don't want any money from the company, whatever. But here's the kicker: the tax folks are gonna look at your neighborhood and decide that renting, say, 10 sq ft is worth $233 a month, and then they'll come knocking on your door demanding you pay income tax on rental earnings! It's exactly like if you were renting out a spare room to a subtenant. Honestly, it’s not even that bad. The tax is peanuts, and it gives you a way to legally "pull" some cash out of the company. Sure, you could just pretend you never read this and keep winging it, but you should probably know how the game is played.
Filing with the IRS
When you're doing that, you get to decide if you want to jump straight into the VAT system or not. And seriously, do me a favor: remember the name of the specific agent assigned to your file, because you need to stay on their good side. That agent can be a huge help—they can tip you off about stuff or warn you if you messed up a form. Or, they can send you official warnings and even trigger an audit if they feel like it. So, my advice? Be aggressively polite. At least until everything goes fully digital and all these paper forms vanish into thin air.
Useful links:
http://www.google.com/pdf/en/US/...org_company.pdfMy trusty source