I've been trying to find some information on how to register a company in the US? Is there one main website where you can go and download the forms that cover the entire US or do you have to file an application for individual states? If it's an application for one specific state, does that registration still cover the entire US?

What I also would like to know is if there is a database that lets you search the currently registered companies in the US, so check if my company name is not taken yet.

Thanks in advance :)

A lawyer is a good way, easiest if they take care of all the details and advise you on what you are getting into. do you know what state you want to do it in?

I would recommend you check out http://legalzoom.com. It's a great source for getting information as well as registering your company.

If you are on a budget with registering your company, then going to your local court house would be your cheapest option.

Regards,

Kenneth

to find more about incorporating search for "incorporating"
and it'll give u some urls of online firms which provide such
services like bizfilings (never used it personally)


rgd.

yashesh

You should also visit:
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/index.html
http://www.score.org

You can find useful information there.

First question is, are you an US citizen? As someone mentioned earlier, lawyer is a good start.

If you are a US citizen, your options are simple. In most cases, you can either register a DBA with your county clerk to act as a sole proprietor, or you can incorporate or form an LLC through your department of state.

If you are outside of the United States, then you'll need to talk to a lawyer.

Thanks for the valuable feedback guys. I checked all the links and bookmarked them for future reference. I am not a US citizien, so I guess the next step for us are our lawyers.

Hope there isn't too much paperwork & waiting involved, I hate that :D

You can checkout http://www.valis.org/

I want to add that you might have some problems with opening a bank account in the US if you are not a resident there. The Patriot Act made the banks to require to know more about their clients before allowing them to open a bank account for their business.

Good luck!

Originally posted by DreamLevel
Hope there isn't too much paperwork & waiting involved, I hate that :D

Your lawyers will do all the paperwork. And charge you quite a bit for it too :)

I will also recommend talking to a lawyer, as I think everyone else has correctly noted, since you are not a citizen of the US. If you were, I wouldn't bother too much with it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a lawyer, but in my experience you can get a ton of useful info from the secretary of state, eg, other companies names, etc. but since you are not a citizen I'm not sure which state you would be using exactly...

Yes, good luck!