incorporating???

Doc1680 · Posted: Feb 15 2008 Post subject: incorporating???

I keep hearing these commercials about the pitfalls of not incorporating your business. Have you guys all done this? Is it neccessary? Also, do you have to be doing alot of business for it to be worth doing?
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BBQMAN · Posted: Feb 15 2008 Post subject:

I am Inc. as a chapter S Corp. and IMHO, yes you need to.

There are some business' that need to go in a different direction.

Inc. your business provides some tax advantages, but my main reason is to protect my personal assets.

The business is the business, my personal belongs are mine (and I intend to keep them! Wink

)
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marvsbbq · BBQ All Star Joined: 15 May 2005 Posts: 6186

I agree with BBQMAN, but i think it all boils down to your personal net worth. If you don't have "A pot to p**s in", you might not need to worry about it. The reason being, if you were sued for some reason (either because of something you did business wise or personally) and you didn't own much, not much they can get.

On the other hand, if you own your home (buying), have other assets worth something (savings, 401K, material items, etc) that you worked your entiere life to have...you MIGHT want to INC.

Also, if you are fairly young and get sued and lose everything, you still have several years of "work life" to recoupe that loss. If you are up there in years (mid 50's +) like me.... and if you were to get sued and lose everything....you MIGHT wind up living under a bridge somewhere barbecuing for your homeless commrades....Or worse yet, living with your RELATIVES Shocked

The BEST thing to do is talk to an attorney about your individual situation to see if INC is needed at this time.
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pafisher · BBQ Pro Joined: 08 Jan 2008 Posts: 535 Location: Pa.

yep incorporated here too ,,, for the same reasons as bbqman ... i wanna keep my things ... just in case ,,, because you never know what can happen .

Harry Nutczak · Posted: Feb 16 2008 Post subject:

Now I think incorporating is just as important if you are piss-poor, or wealthy, it is meant to seperate your personal liabilities and assets from your business liabilities and assets so if one side goes sour, you do not lose both!

Case in point; BATES PIT"S! the guy was not incorporated, the wife wanted a divorce and took all his business assets with her and left him in a very very bad position.
if he was properly incorporated she would not have gotten the deposits for pits that were not even built yet.

also with incorporation you can sell private stock to generate money for investments in the business. And this gives you some seperations from a direct investor.
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Doc1680 · Posted: Feb 16 2008 Post subject:

Oh, I see. Inc'ing your business is a way to seperate it from your personal assets. So even if I were to be doing part time catering it would be in my best interest to inc. And dealing with food I can see where that would be smart to do. How does one go about becoming an inc.? Like I said, I hear the commercials, but they sound to me like people just wanting to make a buck when there might be a less expensive way to go about it.

Thanks guys.
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Doc

marvsbbq · BBQ All Star Joined: 15 May 2005 Posts: 6186

teamfour · Posted: Feb 16 2008 Post subject:

LLC here. Cross between Inc and sole prop.

There is an excellent book out there called Inc Yourself. A little old but really explains the pros and cons of Inc'ing. Some folks Inc their family.
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BBQMAN · Posted: Feb 16 2008 Post subject:

Big Mike · Posted: Feb 16 2008 Post subject:

Doc,

Here is a link that should help you out. It has lots of information for starting a business in Indiana. On the right side of the page there is also a forms link that takes you to the Article of Incorporation paperwork so you can take a look at that. It is really not that expensive to incorporate and you can do it yourself. My wife incorporated her business and I want to say it only cost her about $200 total. I will be incorporating soon myself.

http://www.in.gov/sos/business/index.html
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teamfour · Posted: Feb 16 2008 Post subject:

Doc1680 · Posted: Feb 16 2008 Post subject:

Teamfour,

Thanks for the tip on the book. I will check it out. Though I may not try to handle it myself, I still want to know how everything works.

BBQMAN,

I will check into the different type of inc. but i'm sure i will go the S corp route if it provides more protection.

Big Mike,

Thanks for the link. I have been scouring the gov. site for a while and for some reason couldn't find what I was looking for.

And thanks to everyone for their input. I'm still a ways off but I seem to be getting more requests to do cooks so i figured it might be time to really start checking things out.
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Love the voodoo that Q do.

Doc

Smoke on the Horizon · Posted: Feb 16 2008 Post subject:

Have your attorney explain the difference between LLC and INC.

I went with the LLC it seemed to fit my business just fine.
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marvsbbq · BBQ All Star Joined: 15 May 2005 Posts: 6186

Not that this is the RIGHT thing to do, but I was in business 13 years before I became INC.

It is not something you NEED to like getting a license or anything like that. You should see how your business grows or even survives before you do.

That being said, you REALLY should talk to an attorney about your given situation and needs to make the proper decision.
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teamfour · Posted: Feb 16 2008 Post subject:

Also, make sure you check regulations if located in the Sate of Lousyana. We operate under Napoleanic code which is diff then the other 49 states.

I know that S corps are handled diff here.
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Lee
BWS Party
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Great Outdoors vertical propane
UDS

smokinit · Posted: Feb 16 2008 Post subject:

I am still DBA and just have additional liability insurance 4mill plus. The DBA gives me greater tax advantages and the extra insurance is cheap.
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Doc1680 · Posted: Feb 16 2008 Post subject:

marvsbbq · BBQ All Star Joined: 15 May 2005 Posts: 6186

Doc1680 · Posted: Feb 17 2008 Post subject:

Thom Emery · BBQ Fan Joined: 13 Oct 2007 Posts: 340 Location: Indio Ca

We have a Inc. for the Trash Biz
I just added a BBQ and a Welding Departments
protection and tax savings are key
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