Business Org Formation | Workflow Design

GOAL

Obtaining permissions to trade as a Business Entity under ruling governments.

DISCLAIMER

This is a simple and incomplete list of tasks in non-universal order that is being provided as a sample guidelines for business formation, aka corporate filing, and for administrative maintenance.

TASKS | STEPS AND SEQUENCE

#BusinessRegistration #CorporateFilingSteps to become a U.S. business owne

I. PREPARATION

1. Determine a type of goods and/or services for a business
2. Identify an industry code, NAICS number, appropriate for the business
3. Obtain appropriate business, professional, and occupational licenses and permits for a practice
4. Select type of an entity
1. Single member entity: Sole Proprietorship or LLC
2. Multi-member entity: GP, LP, LLP, LC, or LLC
3. Legal person entity: Corporations and Non-Profit Organizations
4. Professional entity: Professional Company, PLLP, PLLC, or other variants
5. Select a state of formation (a relevant jurisdiction)
6. Determine a business name
7. Design a business symbols: including logos, texts, sounds, and other media
8. Obtain a business phone number
1. Free options: personal number, Google Voice or other VoIP services
2. Paid options: telecom. service providers
9. Obtain a business address
1. Free options: residence
2. Paid options: mail handling services, rent, lease, or purchase of office properties

1. Prepare a documented record of establishment
1. Single member entity: a document equivalent to an Articles of Organization, if LLC
2. Partnerships: a type of business agreement equivalent to Certificate of Partnerships
1. General Partnerships: a business agreement equivalent to Statement of Partnership
2. Limited Partnerships: a business agreement equivalent to Certificate of Partnership
3. Limited Companies: a business agreement equivalent to Articles of Organization
4. Corporation or NPO: an Articles of Incorporation
5. Others: requirements for what's referred to as a professional company may vary
2. Proof of licenses and permits for certain business, professional, and/or occupational practices, if applicable
3. Obtain money for filing fees
4. File for registrations with payment of fees with governments of relevant jurisdictions

1. Entity/employer taxpayer registration with US IRS and obtain FEIN
1. Entities must submit estimated income tax payments quarterly to US IRS
2. Employers must withhold estimated income taxes for employees from payroll
3. Employers must submit withheld payroll taxes either bi-monthly or monthly to US IRS
2. Entity/employer taxpayer registration with proper agencies for State/Local Tax ID Numbers
1. Some state/local governments require FEIN for obtaining entity/employer TINs
2. Entities must submit estimated income tax payments periodically, if applicable
3. Employers may need to withhold and submit payroll taxes, if applicable
3. Register for State/Local sales, use, and/or excise taxes, if applicable

1. Register trade names (a.k.a. fictitious names or D.B.A. names) with State/Local governments
2. Register trade marks ("TM"), including texts and medias
3. File for registration of intellectual properties including patents and/or copyrights

1. Complete steps for Section I, "PREPARATION"
2. Select & appoint a person or an entity as a RA
1. Authorities of RA can include:
1. Ability to complete registrations by completing steps in sections II through IV
2. Ability to handle correspondence with government, financial, and legal institutions
3. Ability to handle mails and postal deliveries
4. Ability to manage and maintain financial records for compliance
2. Responsibilities of RA can include:
1. Duty to meet deadlines and fulfill requirements for registrations and renewals
2. Duty to communicate timely with sufficient information for correspondence
3. Duty to protect privacy and maintain security over sensitive information
4. Duty to maintain accuracy and sufficiency of records for compliance
3. Authorities and responsibilities of RA are determined in an agreement for appointment
3. Obtain, review, and occasionally audit reports from RA
4. Practice due diligence by requesting a copy of reports from RA for each relevant periods

1. Formation
1. Many governments do not require registration of a business for sole proprietorships while many governments do require registration of business names even for sole proprietorships.
2. Multi-member companies of varying kinds are usually required to have detailed terms and conditions of agreements between members.
3. Companies being organized to carry out a very specific type of professional service that often requires a license or a permit to provide the target service, such as legal services or medical services, are often treated differently and are sometimes required to be organized as professional companies. (e.g. P.C., P.L.L.C., P.L.L.P, etc.)
4. For corporations, minimum number of shares, shareholders, and dollar amounts for stocks are usually set by relevant governments.
5. For non-profit organizations, a set of requirements to ensure non-profit operation and appropriate use of budgets are demanded by relevant governments.
6. Incorporating a legal person entity is usually delegated to RA due to complexity of processes for creation of corporations and non-profit organizations.
2. Registrations
1. Corporations are often required to be registered with SEC, especially when it is being traded publicly, in addition to state and locality of formation.
2. Professional organizations, or its members, are often required to be registered with its profession specific organizations.
3. Trademarks are registered with U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") and often involve participations by attorneys or other professionals specializing in intellectual property.
4. Patents and copyrights are obtained from USPTO and usually involve participations by attorneys or other professionals specializing in intellectual property to avoid applications being rejected by USPTO or to avoid potential complications and costs associated with lawsuits.
3. Accounting & Taxes
1. Accountants are usually trained to perform analysis of operating efficiency and effectiveness by quantified operation data and formulating quantitative relationships against bookkeeping records. (aka cost accounting and cost analysis)
2. For compliance to financial information disclosure, companies need to involve participation by certified public accountants (CPA) to generate statements in very specific format via very specific methods under very strict standards.
3. Tax reporting and filing usually requires participation of tax specific professionals such as IRS Enrolled Agents (EA), tax attorneys, or tax accountants who are also experienced with tax codes of very state and locality of operation/registration.