Online Incorporation MaxBlog

Many of the entrepreneur guides today recommend forming an advisory board…but a surprising number of entrepreneurs ignore this advice according to an interesting article by Mary Sullivan at the First Year blog.

It’s hard to know why entrepreneurs ignore this advice – perhaps they don’t understand the role of an advisory board or think they can find everything online. While there’s a lot of useful information on the Internet, nothing takes the place of advice specific to your situation.

At a minimum, an advisory board should include a legal and financial/tax advisor and any other area you lack the necessary experience to make your business run.

After incorporating online, you’re not likely going to have a large management team in place so a group of people to float ideas with and get their perspective. It’s best to meet as a group, usually each month.

In addition to advice, your advisors will pass your name along to their friends and business associates, giving you support at a critical time.

Read Mary’s article for more tips on forming an advisory board…and once you are ready to form a corporation, take care of it easily online in as short as 10 minutes at MaxFilings.com.

Looking for some simple explanation of federal small business taxes? Click over to the online incorporation knowledge center at MaxFilings.com for an overview of the next most certain thing in life next to death.

Federal taxes a small business may be subject to depend a lot on its structure (i.e. C corporation, S corporation, LLC, etc.) along with many other factors.

Four different types of taxes a small business could be exposed to include

1. Income taxes – required for all individuals and businesses (except partnerships, who file an informational return).
2. Self-Employment taxes – primarily affects the self-employed
3. Employment taxes – small businesses with employees
4. Excise taxes – required depending on various conditions, usually for businesses who manufacture certain things or are in a certain industry.

Read Four Types of Federal Taxes Small Businesses Should Know About – And Where to Find Information from the IRS today in the business incorporation knowledge center at MaxFilings.com for more insight and links to further information about this complex subject.

When forming a corporation, you want to have all the knowledge you can to make the right decisions…but finding the right ones that will be helpful can be very time consuming.

An article in Entrepreneur Magazine’s April, 2009 issues – Best Resources for Startups – lists 4 resources every aspiring entrepreneur, and even those who are well established, should be familiar with.

1. SCORE – A nonprofit organization with over 400 chapters that provides free mentoring online and in-person. Consists of nearly 12,000 working and retired entrepreneurs and business people.

2. Small Business Development Centers – Located across the country and usually connected to a university, these organizations provide consulting for just about any facet of managing a small business.

3. Small Business Administration – Federal government agency that provides an array tools to help new and aspiring entrepreneurs succeed. It’s recommended you start with their Start-up Assessment Tool to help find the right resources.

4. U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Center – An arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that provides comprehensive assistance for startups through web-based tools and resources.

These are just a few of the many resources out there…but, they’re most likely the most reliable for accuracy and impartiality.

In addition to these, online incorporation service MaxFilings.com has an expansive online incorporation knowledge center that has many helpful articles that make sense of incorporating a business– check it out and then use MaxFilings’ online system and form your corporation in just minutes.

Last Friday, President Obama extolled that there are “glimmers of hope” in the U.S. economy for recovery, which has been experiencing the deepest recession in a generation.

Dennis Romero over at the Entrepreneur.com Daily Dose blog has a great summary of the president’s remarks at the White House.

Since March, the Small Business Administration’s popular small business loan program has expanded by 20% when the administration announced stronger loan guarantees for credit administered through the SBA.

The President commented to reporters at the White House, “We feel very good about the progress that we’re making in unlocking lending in some particular markets, for example the small business area.”

He went on to say regarding the 20% increase in small business lending, “And what that means is that small businesses are starting to get money that allows them to keep their doors open, make payroll, and that is going to contribute to our overall economic growth, as well as help make sure that people are able to keep their jobs.

Additionally, home refinancing has shown signs of improvement, which is helping stabilize the sector of the economy that’s at the heart of the recession.

In light of this, now may be the time to incorporate online – check out our post from last October detailing Reasons to Consider Starting a Small Business in a Recession.

Every business owner chooses the business entity they operate under.

Most small businesses just start out, making sales, profits and etc. as a proprietorship. However, they can be held personally liable in these situations so simply selecting your business entity this way is unwise.

So which is best? A Limited Liability Company (LLC), C corporation, S corporation or partnership? We can’t answer that here, but you can find questions you should consider when evaluating your options in “Choosing a Business Entity – Some Questions to Consider” in the online incorporation Knowledge Center.

You will address questions about yourself, your business, the cost of starting the business and where you are seeking funding. For instance, if you will have outside investors, a corporation may be the way to go.

With these questions, you can review a Basic Comparison of Business Entities for a quick comparison of each entity’s characteristics along with the more in-depth Overview of Business Entities.

Of course, when you are ready to incorporate your business online, MaxFilings is here to help you navigate the legal requirements in all 50 states.