I'm a new Corp...Now what?

[moomoo72]

What is the name of your state? California

Hi there. My husband and I own construction businsess (9 months now). We were just incorporated, but are having a hard time getting the answers we need. What do we do now? Is there a checklist of what needs to be done, what legally has to be filed, who needs to be notified, etc? The company we went thru wants us to sign up for a program that costs several hundreds of dollars which would pay for them to do all the "necessary" paper work. We don't have that kind of money and want to do it ourselves. Now they won't really tell us what is absolutley "necessary" to be filed, etc. because they want to sell us the package. I'm frustrated, and time is ticking if there are deadlines to be met.

We did file our "Articles of Inc." and our "Statement of Information" (naming officers, etc).

What else do we need to do? Do we file minutes, resolutions, anything else?

What exactly needs a resolution letter? How formal does it have to be?

I need a checklist of some sort.

Someone, please help!!!

Thanks!

 

[divgradcurl]

Running a corporation requires certain formalities, as you are finding out. You'll undoubtedly have further questions, so the best thing you can do is educate yourself on corporations. Start here: http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/corp/corp_faq.htm There is a lot of information available via the secretary of state's webpage, including links to the relevant Calfiornia code sections. You really need to read up and get a good understanding of corporations if you want to go it alone. Otherwise, you'll need to either work with your incorporation company, or hire an attorney.

You'll also want to enlist the services of a CPA or accountant -- corporate taxes are significantly different that sole proprietorship taxes...

 

[moomoo72]

I'm a new corp...Now what?

Thanks. I do have a very helpful, but busy accountant. It takes a few days to get a response to what I feel are very easy quesitons. It's just bad timing to incorporate! Tax time stinks all the way around, huh?

 

[gwendat]

New Corporation going alone

Minnesota

Do you have a Certificate of Incorporation yet from your state? We had an attorney do ours, we went back and forth between LLC and S Corp. We found an accountant and she immediately said go with S Corp. Tax time is hard for them we have found, but she responds to emails pretty quickly, if you haven't tried your questions to him or her that way. Do you need "Bylaws" in your state? Being unsure of what completes your corporation in your state, maybe you know someone who is incorporated who would allow you to inspect their "Corporate Book" to get a guideline. I inspected someone else's LLC that they purchased from the Internet, and couldn't see how I could copy it for our use. It is a very specific set of papers for your business, how it will be run, how it can be sold, if and how and how much shares can be sold and under what circumstances. It is like a will for a company in my eyes! A lot of if this happens, then you do that, etc..Not to mention you have to change your EIN and possibly state employer number. Deadlines came and went for us too, but there are "reasonable explanations" for missing them. I have to pick up one of those to deliver to our accountant from the lawyer who missed the deadline....The best reason to have someone hired to do this is if for God knows what happens that you should be sued they will stand behind you and their work! We spent probably 3 months knocking around and you just will not find the info to do this on your own if you are up against deadlines...You may not have the protection of a corporate structure if you miss something that should have been included and you didn't know!! If your biz is doing well, and you expect it to continue doing well, find someone else to look it over, get another opinion! Maybe you have it half way there and someone just needs to finish it so you can have peace of mind that you are protected. Good luck!

 

[JETX]

I need a checklist of some sort.

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