Register a Business

"A Corporate Image Has Marketing Power"

How to incorporate a business is relatively easy from a form completion standpoint. However, there is more to incorporating than meets the eye.

The various government registration offices provide ample information on the procedures for incorporation as well as the forms. Access the internet and Google "incorporation forms state or province" and you should find the registration website applicable to your location. The federal government information links as a starting point are as follows for the United States and for Canada.

A few important considerations when incorporating a business are as follows:

Share ownership indicates the percentage of ownership of the company as well as voting rights. In most situations, holding 51% of the voting shares would enable you to control the company in terms of appointing directors and officers of the company.

How to incorporate a company involves the appointment of directors who are at risk for certain contingencies of the comp nay. This risk is one of the reasons why a family home is transferred to the spouse who is not subject to his type of risk,

Creating different kinds of authorized share capital can contribute flexibility and options for tax planning purposes.

The registered head office of the company is on public record and is normally the address where office notices are filed including the annual return filing requirement. Annual returns must be kept up to date otherwise a company can have its status revoked, this will cause tax problems plus more cost to get the company revived.

All the assets within a corporation are at risk and can be taken by creditors at time of bankruptcy. thus, careful planning from the start may dictate that valuable assets be kept outside the operational company and kept in personal names of shareholders or in a separate holding company.

Hopefully the above will indicate the need for professional consultation when forming a corporation, no matter what the size of the business is at the time.