If you are going to collect sales tax, you will need to file some paperwork with the state. I believe you will need an Illinois reseller ID. Note once you have one, they will hound you for the quarterly paperwork, and don’t ever be late. The penalty for being late sending them $0.23 in sales tax will be something like $50. Ask me how I know. I finally refused to resell hardware and cancelled my reseller ID to make it stop.
So the point was sole proprietor is easy (if risky to your personal assets), probably just file a form with the county clerk and open a separate bank account under your DBA, but there will be additional paperwork if you collect taxes or have employees. As Doug pointed out, you really should have a lawyer and accountant. You don’t know what you don’t know. They can advise you if you are making the wrong choice about sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, PC, S Corp, C Corp, etc. for various reasons including putting your personal assets at risk, tax consequences, and whether your business can have a subsidiary. There are probably some advantages to a sole proprietorship, like as long as it’s just you, I think you can ignore OSHA. Woo hoo, look at me, I’m 7 feet off the ground without fall protection! From: That One Guy /sarcasm Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2015 11:12 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Legalzoom for a small, on the side business sole proprietorship would seem sufficient. Whats this you say about sales tax, a sole proprietor cant take in sales tax? On Thu, Aug 6, 2015 at 10:51 AM, Bill Prince <[email protected]> wrote: This stuff is not rocket science. It might be difficult for a lawyer, but it's a fairly rote process. I've done it a couple of times, and yes, you need to issue stock (if a corp), publish minutes, and a couple of other things. In CA, the SOS office has a little checklist of what you need. It takes maybe an hour or two to pull it all together. bp <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com> On 8/6/2015 6:45 AM, Hass, Douglas A. wrote: -1000 If you just need to file corporate formation papers and nothing else, you can probably do it by downloading the free forms your state provides. Registering a DBA name is easy, too. Usually just a form that doesn’t take a degree to figure out how to complete. Having an attorney is helpful, but by no means necessary. On the other hand, LegalZoom is a complete waste of money. You don’t need to pay LegalZoom unless you like snazzy web interfaces/hate PDFs so much that you are willing to pay money to use/avoid one. HOWEVER FILING THE FORMS ISN’T ALL YOU NEED TO DO! If all you do is pay the filing fees and file the forms, you haven’t done what you need to create a corporation that protects you and your personal assets (or other corporate assets), and you may not have done enough to actually transact business in the state or location where you are located. You have to follow a number of other corporate formalities, too (corporate books, minutes, resolutions, state registrations/licenses, local registrations/licenses, etc.) or you will have just wasted your time and money. As Ken pointed out, most states have annual filing requirements, too. Retaining a lawyer that specializes in this area, as well as a good small business accountant, is a must. Otherwise, you’re risking your business right from the start. Doug From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bill Prince Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2015 8:25 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Legalzoom +1. You can do an LLC or an S corp for just the filing fee ($25 in CA). The process is fairly simple; even I can do it. Doing a DBA is also pretty simple, and only costs $10 or $20 to publish. bp<part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com> On 8/6/2015 6:15 AM, Joshaven Mailing Lists wrote: You probably don’t need a lawyer to file the LLC. I’ve seen companies that use one where the lawyer is payed to fill out a form that is easier to fill out then a 1099ez. Look into getting a LLC form form the state first… you probably want a lawyer to draw up your articles of organization though. Sincerely, Joshaven Potter MTCNA, MTCRE, MTCWE, MTCTCE, UACA Google Hangouts: [email protected] Cell & SMS: 1-517-607-9370 [email protected] On Aug 6, 2015, at 9:10 AM, Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote: Find a local lawyer who specializes in small business, you can set up an LLC or S Corp and do the annual filings with the state for a couple hundred dollars a year and you will have someone to consult when related stuff comes up. I use these guys (gals, actually), I’m sure there is something similar near you. http://www.cartertani.com/ From: That One Guy /sarcasm Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2015 11:10 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [AFMUG] Legalzoom Is this outfit worth dealing with for stuff like a dba for a small business that will probably generate 22 bucks and a bad taste in the mouth. I assume everybody here did this among other things once upon a lonesome. It's like 99 to 150 bucks plus the filing fees. Is a dba something you can muck up on your own? Douglas A. Hass Associate 312.786.6502 [email protected] Franczek Radelet P.C. 300 South Wacker Drive Suite 3400 Chicago, IL 60606 312.986.0300 - Main 312.986.9192 - Fax www.franczek.com www.wagehourinsights.com Connect with me: Circular 230 Disclosure: Under requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Service, we inform you that, unless specifically stated otherwise, any federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purposes of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or tax-related matter herein. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information about Franczek Radelet P.C., please visit franczek.com. The information contained in this e-mail message or any attachment may be confidential and/or privileged, and is intended only for the use of the named recipient. If you are not the named recipient of this message, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this message or any attachment thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender and delete all copies. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Franczek Radelet is committed to sustainability - please consider the environment before printing this email -- If you only see yourself as part of the team but you don't see your team as part of yourself you have already failed as part of the team.
