Quick Guides to Incorporation?

[Andy Kitkowski]

Hey all. It's come to my attention that for this RPG project I'm working on, it's better to go for 'incorporation'* so that if troubles occur, it's the "company" at risk and not "me".

I know some of you folks have incorporated your businesses as well. I'm looking for a quick guide, pointers, setup tips etc for that sort of thing, short of going to my local Chamber of Commerce (which is rather far, limited open hours, generally hard to reach by phone, etc).

Thanks!
-Andy

* I hope I'm using the term right: Basically I mean registering your business as an entity, and not just a pointer to your own name.

[JakeVanDam]

"Incorporation" refers only to creating a corporation. Since you're on your own, you may wish to form a different type of company.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_companies for a list of forms of companies applicable to your country. Look into those and determine which seem like the best fit. It'll be easier to give advice then.

Some types of company can be formed by simply running an appropriate notice in the local newspapers. You may want a lawyer to write it to make sure it's all kosher.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

As I understand it, for the kind of legal separation you're looking for, a corporation is the correct choice in the U.S. If it's just you, then the S-designation is probably the one you want (LLC is also an option). Adept Press is an S-corporation.

Anything beyond that, you probably need to talk to a lawyer.

Best, Ron

[Andy Kitkowski]

Cool. Will do some lawyer consulting and the like. 

I'm looking at the difference between LLC and S-Corporation right now (aiming to do one of these). 

I have a new relevant question, which is:

"Why go S-Corporation when you can go LLC" (for the purposes of self-produced RPG companies). What real benefit does moving towards S-Corporation have, and why do the people who have S-Corps (Ron, anyone else) choose that route?

Thanks. I can find more specifics of the "How to set up" with local business helpers and The Net, but I would like to understand these two options better from the position of people working solely with self-published media.

-Andy

[Justin D. Jacobson]

My understanding is that the only practical differences between an S-corp and an LLC are for their attendant tax implications, which may be irrelevant given your personal tax situation. What you really want to do is talk not to a lawyer but to an accountant or whomever prepares your taxes. And, for the record, I am a lawyer but not remotely the kind of lawyer that has any relevance to this discussion.

Additionally, you can generally get all the info you need to actually do the incorporation on your state's website, usually something like "Division of Corporations" or something like that. Florida's is www.sunbiz.org. You will almost certainly need to get a Federal tax id number first.

[guildofblades]

Yeah, S type corps basically allow you to pass taxable incomes through to your personal taxes rather than having a separate tax level applicable at the corporate level.

I don't recall exactly but there are a number of restrictions on when you can apply for a S type corp and when you can't. Definitely see a lawyer about the fine details of this subject. Choosing the wrong corporate structure for your business can have huge ramifications as you grow it.

Ryan S. Johnson
Guild of Blades Publishing Group
http://www.guildofblades.com
http://www.1483online.com
http://www.thermopylae-online.com