Hi..

Me and my partner, we are about to start our own webhosting services. But the question is, do we need to register a company name?? The venture is more like a part time job for both of us.

Any advice?


Thanks in advance!

If you want a merchant account you need to register your Social Security number as tax ID.
I am not sure but I think to get that approved you need to register your company.

I would suggest an LLC if you're in the US.

Not a whole lot of paperwork, and can be completed in a few weeks. Tax situation is good, it cost us $200 to have our taxes done.

I recently started my own hosting company and living in indiana - the only things I had to do were: [list=1]
register myself with my county (at the recorders office - cost $10) because I was forming a Sole proprietorship without my name in the title (i'm assuming if the business was 'neil's hosting' it wouldn't of been a problem) anyway I noticed I would of had to do the same if I was registering a partnership as well.

I also contacted the planners department (aka the zoning board) and informed them of my intentions - I was told that as long as I...

*Didn't have customers visit my apartment

*Didn't have any type of external signage

*Only employed people who lived in my apartment

*and... didn't exceed the amount of deliveries that a normal resident would

everything would be cool.. note though that this step is only because I'm running things out of my apartment

[/list=1]

afaik that's all I need to do - I think I also might need to somehow register my ss# as the tax id for the business - since I'm not selling merchandise I don't need a retail permit - and I simply have to claim any profit I make from the business on my federal and state taxes (*note - I don't make money, I don't have to pay taxes)

anway - that's what I had to do - I've been meaning to post this for everyone so here ya go!

=)

-neil

Neil is partially correct, but it does vary based on country / state / county. Typically, for a sole-proprietorship or partnership you need to do at least two things:

1) Register the business name with the county you are doing business in. This usually costs about $10 for the filing fee and $40 for the publication fee (Needs to be published in your county's legal newspaper for two weeks).

2) Get a business license. This is billed annually and the cost is associated with your expected sales volume for the year. Officially, anyone doing any kind of business is required to have a license.

The best thing to do is check with your county (maybe they have a website???) Hope that helps!

Michael

I would check with at least the state Dept. of Revenue about taxes. Also, because there are two of you, you may not be able to simply claim on your individual taxes. Not sure how that would be done if you can.

I would talk to two other people, first a Tax Accountant. They can give you a good idea about what you need to do for taxes and even forming a company. Then given their advise I would seek out a Lawyer to discuss the different options available in your state/county or even country.

There are two main principles in my company, me and my partner. We chose to incorporate after talking with a lawyer. We did this because we wanted to have a legal entity that would be responsible for any legal actions against us. Even though this hasn't happened and I don't expect it to happen, it was just cya. We also set up so that we can grow, especially in staff. We currently have a group of sub-contract designers that work with us, but we can easily add employees if need be.

All that said, because there are two of you, I would look into either a LLC or Inc. if in the US. If not, find out your country's laws especialy around taxes and legal entities.

More than my $.02 worth.

2) Get a business license. This is billed annually and the cost is associated with your expected sales volume for the year. Officially, anyone doing any kind of business is required to have a license.

As a sole propreitership in the state of Indiana I'm not required to obtain a business license, however there's a nice listing for different states over at http://www.sba.gov/hotlist/license.html - also you can view the requirements for Indiana at http://www.state.in.us/sic/owners/ia.html , also I wasn't required to publish in the newspaper - possibly this is a state or county based rule?

-neil