Filings Made Easy™

Business Competitions Breed Great Ideas and Opportunities

trosedale — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:14:57 +0000

In October 2009, Filings Made Easy was a sponsor and judge for a business competition held at Babson College in Wellesley, MA. The contestants included undergraduate and MBA students from Babson College and other colleges and universities that place high value on their entrepreneurial programs.

A key highlight of this competition was the business presented by Megan Shea — RetireLife (www.RetireLife.net). RetireLife is receiving great attention in the Boston area, and Megan is doing big things, including recently received recognition and publicity by BusinessWeek.

Babson College is developing great ideas and well-prepared entrepreneurs. They are the next generation of business leaders. http://www3.babson.edu/newsroom/releases/BizPlanComp10-16-09ns.cfm

Why are so many businesses being incorporated in Nevada?

trosedale — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:51:39 +0000

Nevada law-makers are actively working to make Nevada the most attractive place in the U.S. for incorporation of businesses. Nevada provides entrepreneurs with attractive features that are not available in other states. These include:

- no corporate income tax

- no taxes on stock

- no franchise tax

- no state personal income tax

- minimal corporate annual fees

- no inheritance or gift tax

- Nevada’s business court, which is modeled on the Delaware Chancery Court. This allows for:

Prompt resolution of business disputes
Priority for hearings of business disputes
Sophisticated business judges

Can I purchase registered agent services online?

trosedale — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:29:51 +0000

Of course. At Filings Made Easy, purchasing registered (resident) agent services online is fast and easy. At www.FilingsMadeEasy.com/registered-agent-service.com, you can purchase registered agent services in all 50 states, plus Washington, DC. The three step process will only take you a few minutes to complete, and then you can expand your business into a new state, into three states, or throughout the entire country. It takes the same amount of time to purchase registered agent services for a single state as it does in multiple states.

Choose a national registered agent for your business

trosedale — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:18:24 +0000

Many registered agents exist in each state. Many are competent. Not all can grow with your business. Choose a national registered agent service for your business, and as you expand your operations to additional states (whether it is a new office or a salesperson in an adjacent state or on the opposite coast), you can quickly and easily get established in additional states and have your registered agent services consolidated with a single provider. This will eliminate annoying bills from multiple service providers and will help you keep track of your filing needs.

Why you should hold frequent board meetings

trosedale — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:15:30 +0000

In addition to the exchange of ideas that normally occurs at a board meeting, which likely will benefit the business, it is necessary for good corporate governance to meet frequently and it could protect stockholders in the case they are ever sued for the debts or obligations of the corporation. Corporations have a “corporate veil” which basically means that the debts and obligations of the corporation are not the responsibility of the stockholders if certain corporate formalities are honored. These corporate formalities basically show that the corporation is being respected by those operating the business, and that the stockholders should thus be afforded the rights and benefits of the corporate entity existing. The types of corporate formalities include holding frequent board meetings, holding an annual meeting of stockholders, maintaining minute books, keeping corporate bank accounts separate from those of the stockholders (i.e., not commingling corporate funds with those with others) and signing documents under the name of the corporation (and not by individuals). While these actions seem very simple, they are critically important the stockholders of a corporation to ensure that the corporation and its corporate veil will be recognized, and that the stockholders’ personal assets will not become available to the creditors of the corporation to satisfy the corporation’s debts or obligations.

Failure to follow these and other basic corporate formalities could destroy the corporate veil and put the assets of the corporation’s stockholders at risk.

Press Release

trosedale — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:28:22 +0000

FilingsMadeEasy.com Announces Online Business Incorporation for Only $39 (click below to read press release — January 18, 2010)

http://www.prweb.com/releases/online-business/incorporation/prweb3457834.htm

25 Things to do after forming your new business

trosedale — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:20:46 +0000

choose accountant, and determine if company will operate on accrual or cash basis
purchase accounting software (such as QuickBooks)
engage a lawyer for company
create offer letters for employees
determine and arrange for employee benefits, such as health insurance
create confidentiality, assignment of inventions and non-competition agreements with employees
choose a payroll service (such as ADP or Paychex)
create policies (such as vacation accrual and use policy, anti-discrimination policy) and employee handbook
open bank account
obtain credit card (consider AMEX for special cards for small businesses)
obtain general liability insurance
obtain Workers Compensation insurance
create logo
create website, and ensure that designed for search engine optimization (consider www.superwebomatic.com)
establish Federal Express and UPS accounts
establish courier accounts and relationships for local deliveries
choose office space and sign lease agreement
purchase or lease office furniture
purchase or lease office equipment (PCs, servers, copy machines, scanners)
obtain virtual phone system services, vanity 800 numbers, unlimited extensions and call forwarding (such as www.Grasshopper.com)
create and purchase business cards
create, host, manage and maintain servers and email accounts (and other IT needs)
consider protecting any intellectual property (including trademarks, patents and trade secrets)
consider public relations and marketing (such as press release, registering with local chamber of commerce and registering with online search engines) and creating brochures and other marketing collateral
join trade organizations

15 Things to do Before and While Starting a Business:

trosedale — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:16:28 +0000

- create a business plan, including an operating budget

- obtain any necessary funding to launch the business and operate it until the company is able to support itself through sales

- choose a name for the new business (perform search to make other parties do not have rights to this name and not confusingly similar to other names)

- ensure that the name is available for use in your state (Secretary of State office)

- obtain a URL (domain name) for your business for your email and website

- choose a form of legal entity (LLC, corporation or other) – consider tax implications and attractiveness of entity to future investors, if any

- make necessary filings with Secretary of State to form company

- choose registered agent for entity (required in every state where business will operate)

- draft formation documents, including bylaws and shareholders agreement for corporation, or operating agreement for LLC

- appoint board of directors for corporation or managers for LLC

- hold initial board/manager meeting to appoint officers and address other initial matters (such as authorizing the company to open bank accounts)

- obtain federal tax identification number from IRS

- obtain any required business licenses

- create a board of advisors

Online Formation & Incorporation Glossary

tlupo — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:04:33 +0000

- A -
Agent for Service of Process
Annual Report
Apostille
Articles of Organization
Assumed Name
Authorized Stock

- B -
Board of Directors
Business Entity
Bylaws

- C -
Capital Stock
Common Stock
Corporate Kit
Corporation

- D -
Directors
Dissolution
Dividend
Doing Business As (DBA)
Domestic Corporation

- F -
Federal Tax Identification Number (FEIN)
Fictitious Name
Fiscal Year
Foreign Qualification

- H –
Holding Company

- I –
Incorporation
Incorporator
IRS Form 2553
IRS Form SS-4

- L -
Limited Liability Company (LLC)

- M –
Manager
Member

- O -
Officers
Operating Agreement

- P –
Parent Corporation
Preferred Stock

- R -
Registered Agent
Registered Office
Reinstatement
Resident Agent

- S –
S Corporation
Share
Shareholder
Statutory Agent
Stock
Stock Certificate
Stockholder
Subsidiary

- T -
Treasury Stock

Treasury Stock: Glossary Definition

tlupo — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:21:09 +0000

Definition of Treasury Stock:

Shares of stock of a corporation which were issued and later re-acquired by the corporation. This can occur several ways, including by repurchase by the company or if the shares were subject to vesting (i.e. risk of forfeiture) and the vesting conditions were not satisfied, which results in a forfeiture of the shares back to the company. Treasury stock is considered “issued, but not outstanding.”