# Incorporate or LLC?



## mandolyn (May 28, 2008)

I'm getting ready to become a business. Eeeek! Kind of scarey! :shock:  I'm trying to decide between incorporating and LLC. What are you registered as?


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## Tabitha (May 28, 2008)

After we researched it in depth we decided they both offered the same protection. There were 2 main differences. If you inc you can sell stock and you have to keep more extensive books. neither of which we wanted to do, so we LLCed.


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## 7053joanne (May 29, 2008)

I just got an LLC formed.  It isn't very difficult at all.  My accountant did the paperwork for free.  Gotta love that!

Joanne


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## Martin (May 29, 2008)

I have always heard to go LLC over Inc. Because if you get sued and your are LLC they sue the company if you are Inc. they can sue you (as far as what you own, like house, car, ect).

Sonja


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## mandolyn (Jun 5, 2008)

7053joanne said:
			
		

> I just got an LLC formed.  It isn't very difficult at all.  My accountant did the paperwork for free.  Gotta love that!
> 
> Joanne



Thanks to everyone for replying!!

You're very lucky to have it done for free!! I will have spent $205 doing it myself, which saved me a couple hundred dollars. Most of the cost was in filing fees.

Well, I did some research which included asking people who are inc'd & consulting attorneys (free woohoo!) If you get sued, they sue the inc, not you personally, by the way just like an LLC. 

I went to Office Max & spent around $50 for a kit. It's just a piece of software that has you fill in some info, then it generates the Articles of Incorporation taylor-made for your state. It included a booklet that very clearly explained everything I needed to do, how to do it & even addresses for where to file. It also included a lot of other forms for various meetings & minutes templates, etc.

I followed the wizard & filled everything out & it generated my Articles of Incorporation. I took my articles to the capital building (I conveniently live in the capital city) where I paid $75 to get handed (within 5 mins.) a certified copy of the incorporation with the State seal on it. Then I spent another $75 to publish a notice in the local paper the required 3 consecutive weeks. I had no idea how to publish the notice, but the person at the newspaper emailed me samples of other business's notices. I was able to just put one together with no problems.

I just need to wait for the affidavit proving I published the notice, then I'l spend another $5 to file that with the county. What a process!!!

It was waaaaaaaaaaay easier than I thought - just a lot of steps, none of which you want to skip!

So, my business name is Katie MacKay's Bathworks, Ltd  Now to open my etsy shop!!


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## 7053joanne (Jun 5, 2008)

Congrats!  Mine is In Nature's Thyme......exciting isn't it? :wink:


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## Guest (Jun 5, 2008)

Incorporating must be easier in California then where you are. I note your "Ltd." and presume you're in perhaps Canada?

To incorporate I just did a bunch of reading on the Internet and decided a corporation was preferable to LLC so I downloaded any necessary forms and looked at a few articles of incorporation and just typed up my own. I submitted the papers with the required fee, but in California even if you hand it to them in person it takes over a month to process it. They throw each day's papers into a box and label the date and push it in a closet or something, and don't even open the letters let alone reading them until they've done everybody ahead of you.

Anyway I got my certified articles of incorporation about 6 weeks later and discovered the dummies had mailed my papers to a random lawyer who got mine in one of his batches but was kind enough to forward them to me. 

After doing business as a corporation for a couple years I got tired of all the paperwork and reporting and paying a CPA to do my corporate taxes, so I finally dissolved and went back to sole prop.

I don't know if I'd go through the same thing for a soaping business, but at least I know how, and even better once you've done it it's easy to repeat the process. It's amazing how much lawyers charge for doing such little work. No wonder everybody hates lawyers!


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## Guest (Jun 5, 2008)

Actually the asset protection is the same for either a corporation or an LLC.

Note however that it will not protect you from gross negligence suits. If you act with careless disregard and injure somebody they can come after you not only as your business entity but also to you personally. The lesson here is to know your business and you will have no need to worry.

I'm sure that anybody who can incorporate themself has enough smarts to make safe soap. Soapmaking isn't rocket science, or at least isn't if you're doing it right.


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## breathenatural (Jun 19, 2008)

Hey there, 

Where I am in Canada it is the same thing to Incorporate or be LTD, and it protects your personal assets.  You choose what you want the company to be named (Inc or ltd) when filling out the forms.  I did mine on-line from the government site and saved a ton of money, and it wasn't hard at all, and I got my INC number immediately.I now work for my business, (so yes, more expensive bookkeeping, payroll, accounting fees etc).

So...my question now is, who knows a good EASY book-keeping program?


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## mandolyn (Jul 7, 2008)

breathenatural said:
			
		

> Hey there,
> 
> Where I am in Canada it is the same thing to Incorporate or be LTD, and it protects your personal assets.  You choose what you want the company to be named (Inc or ltd) when filling out the forms.  I did mine on-line from the government site and saved a ton of money, and it wasn't hard at all, and I got my INC number immediately.I now work for my business, (so yes, more expensive bookkeeping, payroll, accounting fees etc).
> 
> So...my question now is, who knows a good EASY book-keeping program?



Yup, about the same here. I'm in Nebraska, USA. I could choose, Inc, Ltd & some other choices. One difference with incoroporating & LLC here is to incorp I had to run a notice for 3 Mondays in the newspaper instead of just once.

I'm using QuickBooks. Not too difficult to learn. You can use the wizards to set everything up, & it does things like generates reports for your taxes, CPA & sales tax. I just have the basic free QuickBooks, but you can upgrade.


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## Tabitha (Jul 7, 2008)

> I just have the basic free QuickBooks, but you can upgrade.


Free quick books?


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## mandolyn (Jul 7, 2008)

Tabitha said:
			
		

> > I just have the basic free QuickBooks, but you can upgrade.
> 
> 
> Free quick books?



Here you go:
http://www.download.com/QuickBooks-Simp ... d=10758986


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