I own a sole proprietership and want to change business over to an LLC. Can this be done? is there a cost?
144406
Many entrepreneurs begin with a sole proprietorship, which is to say that they begin by doing business as the single owner of an unincorporated company. As such, a sole proprietorship is not a registered legal entity that is separate from its owner and therefore cannot technically be "changed" or converted to a limited liability company or a corporation, for that matter.\n\nInstead the sole proprietorship would cease to exist, and you would form a new LLC to conduct business. The cost involved comes from the filing of formal paperwork, usually called articles of organization, and the filing fee ranges from $40 to $900, depending on the state.
569056
You can do it yourself through the state ( http://www.stateofflorida.com/Portal/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=8 ), but the paperwork gets a bit confusing at times.  The easiest way to do it is to use an incorporation service such as: \nhttp://www.floridaincorporationservice.com/\n\nHope this helps!
969801
1) Yes, visit your local City and County office to get your business license. You might not be required to get both, but in my City a home business must have both.  Also talk to the zoning director of your city or county to make sure your home occupation will comply with the zoning regulations.\n\n2) After you have done all the necessary paperwork and know that you are ready for business.\n\n3) I wouldn't necessarily worry about this unless you had just an unique name ~ it costs too much to worry about for a one person company.\n\n4) You will still file your taxes the same. Business income and expense will be included in your 1040 form.  However, if you become a larger company, the forms necessary will change.  Visit www.irs.gov for more information on necessary forms and tax laws for businesses.\n\nGood Luck!
755958
Whoever advised you to register a second LLC in Alabama did not know what they were talking about. You could have registered in Alabama as a foreign LLC for $75 which would have allowed your Georgia LLC to operate there. A second LLC is essentially a second legal entity that probably will need an EIN.\n\nIf you want to make your life easier, scrap the Alabama LLC and register your Georgia one as a foreign LLC.
907897
You could make a substitution of cash for the stocks. I'm not sure you can do the substitution of cash for stock that is owned by an LLC. I think that this would be considered a sale by the LLC of the stock for the cash. You could probably get around this by distributing the stocks from the LLC to the members and do the substitution. The distribution of stock by the LLC to each member should not trigger a tax. The members would take the LLC basis in the stock.\nThis is a fairly complex transaction so I would recommend a session with a CPA or tax attorney to verify the answer.
169011
If you're speaking of incorporating a business, a attorney can do it for you for a few hundred dollars; or, if you want to do it yourself, go to your state's Secretary of State's website.\n\nI recommend an attorney because they can also advise you which type of corporation you would want. There area few options: LLC, S corporation, etc. It's confusing if you're not familiar with the system.
108027
The successor company may be liable under the continuity of enterprise doctrine and/or the defacto merger doctrine.  Additionally, the principals of the two companies may be personally liable if you are able to "pierce the corporate veil" (very difficult but not impossible).  Depending on the amount of money at issue, you may wish to file a lawsuit yourself in small claims court.  But beware, if you sold the products/services through a corporation, you cannot represent the corporation in court in most states - you will have to hire an attorney.  If a significant amount of money is involved (and probably in any case), you should consult with an attorney.  It would help if you had a written contract providing that the prevailing party in any dispute arising out of the contract is entitled to attorneys fees.  Commercial disputes are difficult, and you would be wise to invest a little time/money with an attorney to see whether this claim is worth pursuing.  Best of luck.
557999
Your mortgage broker is an idiot, you can't do this with the house you live in, but you certainly can with a residential property you buy as an investment.  You just go to a lawyer, and they will set up a deed (probably a quitclaim) to deed the property over to the LLC.  Then you (or the lawyer) have to file the deed at the courthouse.  \n\nAnyone who has a financial interest in the property (ie the bank) will have to agree to the change in writing, but just ask them, they may not care.  You can actually do this without telling the bank, but then they may find out on their own, and since the loan can be called with an owner change (this is technically an owner change) they will call the loan and put you in a bind, so check with the bank first but again they may not care.  \n\nThe bank could make you fill out a form or pay them more money or something.  In fact if you have a really good loan that they'd like to get off the books maybe they won't let you do it as an attempt to force you to refinance, but you'll just have to use your judgement on what to do here.\n\nNote, once the property is in the LLC you are still personally responsible for the mortgage.  So, if someone falls on your property and sues you, they can get the house (subject to the mortgage), but worst case you will still be liable for the mortgage.  Also if you put several properties in the LLC they can get all the other properties too, so you might want to set up a seperate LLC for every 3 properties or so (and make sure you have adequate insurance) but at least they can't take over your personal residence and assets if the properties are seperated into an LLC.  \n\nAlso be careful to very strictly seperate the LLC's business and your personal business.  If you have your own funds and the LLC's comingling the court may decide the LLC was an alter ego of yourself and not really a seperate entity.  Then there was no point in having a LLC, you are back on the hook for everything.\n\nFinally (didn't mean to write a book here, I just get going and can't stop - sorry) bear in mind that for future properties you will probably have to do the same kind of a deal ie put the property into a LLC's name, but your name will still be on the mortgage.  The bank will not lend you money based on the credit of a LLC with insufficent assets.  If the LLC has enough assets and money (and history) to buy it on its own, fine, but you are years away from there if you just started the LLC's.\n\nGood luck with it.
839058
Sure, why not.  I presume you will be selling the same merchandise.  Incorporate and run everything through the corp. If you're ebay id hasn't already been incorporated, you can even incorporate under that name.
798713
Check with the Secretary of State. Usually, LLC's have to register their businesses.  Several states have this information online.
875796
OK - just so you know, I have a full C Corporation and three LLCs that I am currently running.\n\nYour first statements are correct - and yes, I would suggest getting an EIN for your LLC as that adds more credence to the fact that you are doing business as a company when you file your taxes (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=102767,00.html)\n\nOK - the very next thing you should do (even before transferring the vehicle or worrying about legal issues) is to find a really good accountant for a LLC - this will be a LOT HARDER than it sounds.  As I have already noted, I found one that is both an accountant and a tax lawyer (even more rare)!  You want to find someone who really understands a small LLC and is willing to push to get all the tax benefits for you that are legal in today’s tax code.  Many accountants do not really understand the tax codes for LLC.  This one item can save you tens of thousands of dollars in very short order!\n\nMy advice here is to read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad (if you have not already) and use that as a basis to question accountants to see if they know how the tax codes work for small C corps.\n\nThe next thing to do is start setting up your advertising to be as much word of mouth as you can possible stand (good way to use that vehicle to mentioned to get around to network and meetings).  You want to plan as best as you can to ensure that you have as much cash flow as your company will need.  Depending on the type of business you are in, there could be any number of natural ups and downs that you will need to plan for.\n\nAs for the vehicle – again the accountant should be able to advise you best.  I have been told that the safest way to have the company own a vehicle is for the company to lease one.  This then become a full write off.  Yes, you will still need to keep track of mileage and/or other information as directed by your accountant.  The LLC can also put money in a 401K or other retirement plan for you and your employees.  \n\nYou should set things up so that medical expenses are paid by the LLC.  My wife retired with a good pension and medical benefits (although the company is cutting back on retiree benefits now), so in my case, my C Corp picks up all unpaid medical that is not covered by the insurance company.  Also under medical can be health club dues for medical reasons – thus one of my LLC’s has a fitness complex that is on it’s property that my C Corp then pays dues for the use of it.\n\nYou might also want to check you local area to find out if there are other small LLC owners.  If so, you might want to ask them to join you in developing a master mind group where you can all share ideas on everything from building your organization to benefits from sharing resources (like accounting, purchasing office supplies, payroll services, etc.).\n\nThus you are right – there are a lot of tricks to the trade of learning how to run a LLC to benefit you and the company and also pay your legal (albeit small) amount to Uncle Sam – play like a big boy using their tools in a small company.\n\nGood Luck.\n\n\nAlso, you probably already know the following, but just in case, here is what I typically recommend to those thinking about starting out in business:\n\nAnytime you want to start any kind of business, there are several basics that you will need:\n\n* You should first sit down and think about what it is you want to do and then write out the scenario in detail!  This may sound tedious, but it will help you clarify what it is you are thinking about.  Also, when you talk to anyone about the business (mentor, bank, clients, prospective investor), you will have a clear vision to share with him or her.  You can check any number of books at your local library or the Internet for ideas on creating a business plan or goals list.\n\n* Is there anyone out there doing something like what you want to do already?  Can you research what it is that they do and maybe even talk with th
508970
That depends on the state. I would check www.sba.gov and select your state. Or check with the state corporation office.
839169
This question screams for a lawyer.\n\nIf both businesses are sole proprietorships, you could make the case that you had sold the business to him to make good your rental debts. Technically, in a transaction like this, the buyer of a company takes on both the assets AND the liabilities... Unfortuantely this sounds like a sales contract was not drawn up.\n\nI suggest, since you're obviously not rich, that you at least seek some pro bono guidance from a legal clinic. Good luck.
464028
There are several different types of businesses (ie Sole Proprietorship, S-Corp, C-Corp, Partnership) entities.  You can learn a bit about the differences at www.mycorporation.com.  You can even file all of the necesary documents thorugh this website.
479377
Is your business a corporation? A partnership? An LLC or LLP? A dba? Is it incorporated in some other state?\n\nWith so little information, I have to send you to the Business Portal: http://business.illinois.gov/
102441
Most of the time you can do a DBA and go by any name you want. As long as you do the required publication and notice you would be fine. I also think that you could leave off the LLC on signage and be perfectly ok. Check with a lawyer who specializes in that area.
954760
Probably you may want to list it on the Web.\n\nIf it is not a one-shot situation: as in you are renting-out units, consider building your own site. A resource for this  is: http://selling-a-service.first411.com\n\nSorry - but you need to be more specific in your question so i took the liberty of sharing 2 possible options.\n\nHope this helps you. Good Luck!