Reg­is­ter­ing your company: the steps you need to take

The ex­cite­ment of starting your business can often be coupled with ex­haus­tion at the amount of things you need to take into account – es­pe­cial­ly for small busi­ness­es, which often need to do things in­de­pen­dent­ly at first. Having an overview of what needs to be done in the early stages can be really helpful – es­pe­cial­ly for bu­reau­crat­ic processes such as reg­is­ter­ing your business. In this article you’ll find a checklist of the in­for­ma­tion you’ll need to have at hand, as well as the reg­is­tra­tion processes you’ll need to go through to make sure your business is reg­is­tered so it can stay up and running!

Before diving into the steps you’ll need to take to register your business, it is a good idea to make sure you’ve checked off these business basics. Having a clear overview of the following things will help you register your business quickly.

• Business location: Where is your business based? Depending on the location of your company, you’ll have to consider different au­thor­i­ties and taxes. You may also be eligible for federal gov­ern­ment in­cen­tives, which are provided for busi­ness­es in HUBZones (his­tor­i­cal­ly un­der­uti­lized business zones).
• Business structure: Is your business an LLC, a cor­po­ra­tion, a part­ner­ship, or a sole pro­pri­etor­ship? These different types of business structure will affect your tax returns, as well as your company’s reg­is­tra­tion.
• Certain things like your busi­ness­es name are probably something you’ll already have thought of – just make sure the name is not already reg­is­tered, and if you want to use the same name across the board, that the domain hasn’t been taken.
• Ownership: Again, this may seem obvious, but having the details on this in­for­ma­tion is vital for reg­is­ter­ing your business. This also includes the director of your business, and in­for­ma­tion on how the man­age­ment system is struc­tured.
• Shares: Have the number and value of your company’s shares at hand when reg­is­ter­ing your business to make sure things go smoothly. This only applies if your business operates as a cor­po­ra­tion.

Simply being aware of this in­for­ma­tion will help make the reg­is­tra­tion process easier, so make sure you have it at hand – or at least in mind!

As mentioned above, the location and structure of your business will influence how you register it. If you are a small business, it is quite likely that all you’ll have to do is register your business name with the state and local gov­ern­ment. It is worth checking with a local advisor to make sure you’re adhering to local and state reg­u­la­tions. Even if most busi­ness­es do need to register, there is the pos­si­bil­i­ty that you won’t need to register at all – this could be the case if you operate your business as yourself. This means that your business is the same as your legal name, and in this case you won’t need to register yourself as a business. Again, make sure you check the specifics with a local business advisor to ensure that the rules are the same in your area. It is worth knowing that business reg­is­tra­tion brings with it certain perks such as personal liability pro­tec­tion, as well as legal and tax benefits – so although it may be a hassle, it is worth it in the long run.

Depending on the specifics of your business, you’ll have the register with the local, state, and federal gov­ern­ment, or a selection of the three.

Generally speaking, you probably won’t have to register with your city gov­ern­ment to legally form your business – although this is worth checking, depending on where your business is located. However, this is also dependent on what your business structure is, as LLCs and cor­po­ra­tions will probably need to file for licenses and permits from local agencies. It is your local gov­ern­ment itself that de­ter­mines what and how you should register as a business, so check your local gov­ern­ment’s website for further details.

As an LLC or cor­po­ra­tion you will probably have to register in the state(s) in which you are active. This can also be called having nexus with a state. This could be the case if you have business dealings within a state, so clearly your main business will have nexus in the state it is located in, but even if you just operate in another state for part of the year, or for seasonal events, it may be enough to create nexus. Fur­ther­more, if a sig­nif­i­cant amount of your revenue comes from those sales, it is even more likely that you’ll have to register in that state as a business too, as well as in your “main” state. The process of the reg­is­tra­tion changes from state to state, with some allowing online ap­pli­ca­tions, and others requiring paper ap­pli­ca­tions, filed through the post.

The cost of reg­is­ter­ing your business shouldn’t exceed $300, but this may vary depending on what kind of business you are reg­is­ter­ing. It also depends on which state you are reg­is­ter­ing your business in. Above, you will have already seen a checklist of the things you’ll need to register your business. One further piece of in­for­ma­tion to have at hand is the in­for­ma­tion of your reg­is­tered agent.

Most busi­ness­es won’t have to register with the federal gov­ern­ment, other than to receive their EIN (see below). The exception will be if you want to register for tax exemption status, in which case you have to contact the IRS.

Your employer iden­ti­fi­ca­tion number (EIN) is also known as your federal tax ID number. In order to do things for your business, such as opening a bank account and hiring employees, you’ll need to have your EIN. Tech­ni­cal­ly, it is something you should do after reg­is­ter­ing your business, but it is something that you might as well prepare during your business reg­is­tra­tion. It is simple to apply for an EIN, and free. There is more in­for­ma­tion in our detailed article on EIN numbers.

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