

Incorporate for free (Until Friday) - tialys
http://mycorporation.com/freeweek/

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mdasen
One thing to realize: If you Inc/LLC in 2008, you'll have to pay any
taxes/fees due for 2008. Forming a DE LLC right now would cost you more money
than waiting until Jan 1 and paying the $150 because you'd have to pay the
$250 franchise fee for 2008. LLC on Jan 1 and you don't have to pay it for
2008. You're up $100 even with the $150 fee.

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caveman82
Last time they had this deal (a few weeks ago), there was an option to defer
filing until Jan 1st, to save on 2008 fees and administration tasks. I assume
you can opt to do so again.

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tialys
Very nice, they actually bold and 'recommend' it (for tax reasons)

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Brushfire
Alternatively, in many states the forms are simpler and cost less (I'm
assuming this free deal has a catch), and don't require you to give your info
to another company.

For example, this is the Indiana form to do it online:
<http://www.in.gov/ai/appfiles/sos-registration/landing.html> . Cost? For
profit organizations: $85.00

Granted, this wont set you up with bylaws, formal/complete articles of
incorporation/organization, etc. But if you are small, those don't matter, you
can do them later, and if you arent small/simple structure you wouldn't use
mycorporation anyways.

According to most Attorneys I know who deal with investment/securities stuff,
unless you are in a handful of states, the idea that you need delaware org is
sort of a leftover thing from the past. As usual, though, you should check
with an attorney or accountant who knows your state.

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blurry
If you do business in any state, you need to foreign-qualify in that state,
which involves the same and sometimes even greater fees than if you just
register locally as a domestic corporation/LLC.

For example, incorporating in Indiana doesn't save you from New York fees if
you do transactions in New York. Transacting has different definitions state
by state, and may include anything from accepting orders to having remote
employees who work in that state. Most importantly, having a physical office
in a state always requires you to foreign-qualify, so registering in another
state doesn't really work for companies that are not fully virtual.

Speaking of virtual... does anyone follow the development of Vermont Virtual
Corporations? What are the advantages, limitations, etc?

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Brushfire
I would agree with you, when it comes to most non-virtual companies. There are
also tax implications.

But for virtual companies, this is all solved by jurisdiction on the purchase
contract, I believe. In other words, people placing orders on your website is
equivalent to them driving to the state and placing them in person. So the
transaction is inside state boundaries, and there is no need to foreign
qualify in other states.

In addition, I had a company that sold services electronically but also
shipped smaller lesser physical items as part (signs for the service... kind
of complicated but the actual service doesnt matter). We never had any issues
across state lines.

I think employees and locations are what count, for tax reasons, but
buyers/consumers get to handle all the rest via use taxes in their state.
Contract issues above apply.

At least, this is what I have been told, I'm no attorney.

No idea about Vermont, sounds interesting though.

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blurry
Thanks Brushfire, that was really useful.

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tialys
Quick note: Apparently you need to click the link and use the code "MYGIFT" to
get the $150 discount.

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ericb
Has anyone here done this the last time around? What's in it for them? Is
there a catch?

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tialys
Upselling you to other services.

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Shooter
The main reason is RA fees.

Most people that incorporate in a different state have their incorporation
company act as their registered Resident Agent for the life of the company
because it is convenient and cheaper than having an attorney act as the RA.
So, incorporation companies offer you something that is very low cost (filing)
in an attempt to get you to pay the agent fees for years. They might give up a
one-time (stated value) fee of $149 in exchange for X years of $100+ in agent
fees. As others have noted, they will also try to upsell you on other products
and services ("You need an official corporate stamp for your corporation
documents!")

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rp
Please remember that the only thing that is "free" is the fee that you would
pay this company to do your paperwork. You will have to pay business
organization fees to the state of formation no matter what you do (check your
state). As noted by others, most states also charge yearly franchise taxes,
which is in addition to any federal taxes you are liable for if you see
revenue.

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tialys
Yes but for someone like me (Read: not a lawyer, can't afford one) a service
like this can save me a ton of money. I understand there are risks when not
working with a lawyer, and I haven't actually submitted yet because my partner
and I are discussing this, but in general I think it's helpful if you know you
want an LLC/S-Corp and don't need anything complex. You'd have to pay the
state fees no matter what, so it's like doing it yourself, only you get some
experts to help you out -- free.

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redrobot5050
Don't take this the wrong way, but hit up slideshare.net for "Starting a
Business". There's a great tip in a lot of those presentations: Make a (non-
family member) accountant your new best friend. Most CPAs have a "checklist"
of what needs to be done (tax wise and regulation wise) to incorporate.

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mmmurf
This is a gimmick. You can get the same deal 365 days a year from other
companies, just do a google search.

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elai
An incorporate for free website seems like one really nasty way to commit
identify fraud. You get the complete identity information of people who
probably have a good amount of money to milk. (What type of people
incorporate, but then again what kind of people would use a free version?)

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blurry
Not sure if you've ever incorporated. I have, a couple times. In most states,
your info goes into the state database that is wide open to the public, so you
don't really get any privacy anyway.

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stanley
Is it worthwhile to file an LLC in a state other than the one I reside in?

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omarchowdhury
Depends on where you reside. Some states have different tax/fees.

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stanley
Right, that was my question -- Will I be able to avoid steep fees/taxes by
registering the LLC elsewhere?

