I'm looking to incorporate my company and was hoping for some feedback from members of this site. I am looking to incorporate in Nevada, because of the cheaper fees and the fact that there is no income tax fee in Nevada. I live in California, and don't presume that that will be a problem. I am looking for a company setup an account for me, to draft articles of organization, and file the documents with the state office. (Basically everything) I was wondering if there are any hidden fees that I might have to look out for while selecting a company to setup my incorporation with. Do most of these companies perform the same services as one another? Right now I have narrowed my list to 3 or four companies which will be listed below. I wanted to put a comprehensive list of companies and their fees to incorporate, so maybe this list can help relative "newbies" like myself decide which company to go with.

myincorporation.com Fees= $283/315 for INC/LLC
bizfilings.com fee = $440/440 for INC/LLC
va-lu-corp.com fee = $300/300 for INC/LLC
incorporate.com fee = $720/720 for INC/LLC

Thanks
Steven

Lawyers also do this. I would think that you would need one in Navada though to do this.

We used http://www.lhjosephinc.com/. He is in LA. He is an old guy who has done 1000's over the years. He talked us out of the Nevada thing. There is just way too much to do to make it legitimate. California has all kinds of ways to get their money, so it is just easier to incorporate in CA.

Anyway, I highly recommend LH. I have no affiliation with him other then the fact he incorporated us 2 years ago. He even does the first minutes, gets you a tax ID, and a bunch of other stuff lawyers were going to hit us on.

I'd recommend hiring a lawyer to do your incorporation or reading up a bit and doing it yourself - not online..

I'd recommend hiring a lawyer to do your incorporation or reading up a bit and doing it yourself - not online

For the record, http://www.lhjosephinc.com is done by an old guy. He just happens to use a web site for informational purposes. None of it is done online.

Also, if you are a small start up, paying a lawyer to incorporate is a waste of money. If you have a complex business organization, or are coming into it with a lot of money, then consider it. However, incorporating is like filing taxes. No need for a CPA if they are not that complex.

I'm with mkaufman. Hire a lawyer. A simple incorporation shouldn't cost much, is a deductabl;e business expense and you cover yourself just in case there's some legal aspect you're not aware off.

BTW, incorprating as a host may not give you the legal protection you think you're getting.

Jaiem,

what do you mean he's not getting the legal protection he thinks he is? What legal protection DO you get as a host or internet services company?

hi if you incorp in another state you still will have to pay your state, this is according to my father in-law who is a cpa. he also advised me to incorporate after i was making enough to pay a good lawyer. and these are his words 'if you are worried about someone suing you, don't, what are they going to sue you for your first born or his baby carrage' if you are worried and protecting your assets, dont cause most smart companies you deal with will require you to attach them (your personal assets) anyhow-read the fine print on those agreement folks :).
just my $0.02
deeboy

Jaiem, are you incorporated? Just curious since you were giving advice. Did you use a lawyer?

(disclaimer: Not a lawyer, not a legal opinion!)

I'm saying that being a corp might not give you the legal liability protection most people think they are getting from being a corp (or an LLC for that matter).

It of course depends on the laws of the specific state but in general professional services are not protected from liability by just being a corp. So if an engineer forms an engineering corp and then makes a bad building or bridge etc design, being a corp (probably) doesn't automatically protect him from personal liability. That would be professional liability which needs professional liability insurance and no way to get that for a hosting or web deisgn business. Same for a doctor, lawyer, accountant, etc. Basically any services business.

In short, if it's liability protection you want then before you incorporate talk to a lawyer and make sure being a corp will actually give you the protection you want.

Jaiem, thanks for elaborating, I see your point. I thought you meant if you get sued for something minor that you would be liable, thank god that is not the case

"Something minor" is up to the courts to decide. But when it comes to services, in general anything you do as it relates to the service you're on the hook for.

Generally, corp protection is good for physical merhcandise and property. So if you have a brick&mortar store and someone trips on the carpet you (probably) are protected. Or if you make widgets and someone gets hurt using one you (probably) are OK personally.

(not a lawyer, not a legal opinion!)

ok, but if you are a hosting company and say your servers all go down for 2 days and a customer sues you for lost sales. Are you responsible, the company and you or just the company. (provided that the client can fully back up their claim)

become an LLC in Delaware and save yourself a lot of $$$$. Its perfectly legal even if your company is in another State. We are in NYC, and to do an LLC out here is OUTRAGEOUS! so we became an LLC for under $300 and that was with a few extra services. We did it through Businessfiling.com

George,

I'm not a lawyer so if you're concerned about such things you really should seek competent professional legal advise.

If you're asking can you be sued, sure. You can be sued for anything. Do they have a case is another issue. For some industries the courts have said they can't be held responsible for losses due to service failure (such as the telephone company or having a flight delayed when you have to get to an important meeting). Don't know if that would apply to a host however.

You probably should have something in your TOS that says the customer acknowledges the potential for outages and agrees not to hold you responsible for losses from such outages. It's not a shield but it will help your defense. Also a good reason not to offer 100% uptime guarantees.

ps- You could also make the argument "If your website is sooo critical to your business why didn't you go for a dedicated or co-located machine instead of a $9.95/month shared account?" ;)

very good points Jaiem

I would go with mycorporation.com and a Nevada LLC. I actually moved my family to Nevada due to the business friendly nature of Nevada and the Vegas Valley. mycorporation was very good and fast. They even called me a couple times to handle the transaction. I still suggest finding an Attorney though to talk to.

It is called "piercing the Corporate veil" when you are sued as a company and you then in turn get sued as an individual or group. A corporation separates your business from you as a person. As long as you follow your bylaws, hold meetings, and at least have yearly minutes, then it is *hard* to pierce the vale. You must keep your corporate books clean.

Lets say you have a decent amount of money but your company does not. Someone gets upset about your business for what ever reason and sues. They can not sue you, only the corporation. However, the can request to look at your books and find a hole from crapping keeping, etc... Hence "piercing the Corporate veil" . Of course, even well kept corporation gets nailed from time to time.

As a side note. This is also a practice of some of the rich. They incorporate things like airplanes so they can't get sued if it crashes.

Anyway, like Jaiem said, I too am no lawyer. However this advice came from a lawyer we paid to give us advice. In the end he had us go with someone who knew how to incorporate. He said that a small, poor man like myself did not need to pay for him to do the incorporation paperwork. He was a friend, so he was honest. Now the company is actually worth something a few years later, we will have a lawyer come in a make sure we are good to go.

There have been cases in the past where employees of a corporation have been held liable for negligence... and if you pay yourself from the corporation, you are an employee.

Originally posted by baddealings.com


myincorporation.com Fees= $283/315 for INC/LLC
bizfilings.com fee = $440/440 for INC/LLC
va-lu-corp.com fee = $300/300 for INC/LLC
incorporate.com fee = $720/720 for INC/LLC

Thanks
Steven

If any I would use bizfilings.com. They are VERY FAST and have great support.