I will be setting up a webdesign company on the net and i also want to be a reseller. Are there any good hosts that would be good for both of these?

I think it would be helpful to split this question. Setting up the company *and* decent resellers have been discussed before. You might want to take a look at the Reseller's Forum and read a bit. You will get more information by reading what is there already, than by asking the same question that's been asked before in the wrong forum :)

Re: setting up a company...

http://www.incorporatetime.com
http://www.mycorporation.com
http://www.corporate.com

Though some forms you can set up yourself, and without even these easy secretarial type companies. Have we decided on what form of company?

You may not have to incorporate just yet. There's a thread on that whole topic floating around somewhere.

I'd have to differ with the above.

Unless you have nothing to lose, these days, with everyone suit-happy, incorporation right off the git-go is probably a really good idea.

The idea of incorporation is to isolate your personal assets from your business assets, and limit your personal liability should your business be sued.

Without this protection, should you become involved in litigation, liability may and often does extend beyond the bounds of your company, and endanger your personal assets.

Although incorporation does not protect you in any way from willful misdeed (fraud, theft, etc.), it does generally provide a reasonably solid barrier against, say, losing your house when your business is sued.

This certainly isn't a legal opinion; but my own personal experiences have definitely borne out the value of incorporation, no matter how new or small your business.

Doesn't it cost a couple hundred to incorperate?

And whats the difference between that and getting a buisness lincense?

The cost of incorporation varies broadly from state to state in the US. Referencing the sites above will retreive more information on this for you.

A business license, in most states, is simply a registration. It neither establishes nor assures the financial or legal structure of your business.

Hello
The country you are located in will make a difference to the incorporation issue.

If you are in the UK and incorporate as a limited company you will be paid as an employee and you will have to pay 20% national insurance (10% employee, 10% employers) on top of tax.

You will lose all the tax breaks available to the self employed. This change was brought in to stop people setting up "personal services" companies as a way of obtaining tax benefits while still working full time for their original employer.

Also UK banks won't give finance to new start ups that have limited liability so even if you incorporate they will want your soul signed over to them anyway.

Then there's the VAT.
If you voluntarily register for VAT you will have to charge 17.5% VAT to all UK or EU customers.
If a large part of your business is outside the EU (like mine) then you will not be able to reclaim VAT on your expenditure.

Its actually very easy to incorporate in the UK.
If you can fill out the forms it will only cost about 20 pounds but you would need to think very carefully about it first.

Basically, if you have a choice don't start a business in
the UK.

Gordon

Sorry, I suppose it would have been helpful to explain that the links I posted also offer some general help as to which business entity one should consider. I wouldn't recommend that some one incorporates unless they fully understand what that entails. If you want to deal with shares of stock, and paperwork, and a formal corporate structure, then in corporation is fine. Otherwise, look into an LLC. Much less formal, less paperwork, easier to set up and maintain, and offers the same liability protection.

Don't make the mistake of assuming that incorporating your business or making it a LLC will offer protection against lawsuits. If you're taken to court you have to pay to defend yourself, and this can be an enormous expense whether you win or lose, as my attorney pounded into me when I incorporated my business. He also pointed out that under certain circumstances you can still be held personally liable, as in the case of negligence that causes personal injury.

As for shares of stock when incorporating, etc., incorporating as an s-corporation doesn't involove any of that stuff. My business is an s-corporation, and is one option for limiting liability for a small business. But don't ask me for any more details: I incorporated about 20 years ago, and don't remember most of them. <g>

Decide what you want your business to do/be, then speak with an attorney.

Hi,

I have both a mid-size server and a reseller account with olm.net and have been very happy. The one thing I really like is their reseller program of discounted domain names. There are other good hosts out there, but olm had the best reseller program for me.

hellexia

(not a legal opinion)

et - As Deb said, Inc'ing may not give you the protection you think you're getting.

Being incorporated is great for material protection. That is, if you own a physical store and a customer gets hurt inside being an Inc. will probably protect you. But if provide services, even as just an agent or reseller of someone else's services, that's considered professional liability and being a copr won't help you.

So for exmaple if an engineer designs a structure that collapses being incorporated won't protect him from malpractice. It could be similarly argued that if you provide hosting services and the service fails a client in some way, being a corp might not protect you personally from liability.

Originally posted by etLux
incorporation does not protect you in any way from willful misdeed (fraud, theft, etc.)

As I said...

And incidentally, I own six corporations and have a post-grad degree in corporate business law; so I'm reasonably aware of the limitations of the protection provided by incorporation.