Friday, March 16, 2012

Protect Your Assets Through Business Incorporation


Some business owners do not fully understand how incorporation works. This process is not a requirement for each business but it may help you in the long run. Choosing to incorporate can give a business owner several benefits.

You may look at a corporation as a separate person with limited rights and privileges. Through incorporation, you split yourself from your business, giving it a life of its own. Your business becomes independent from shareholders and its employees. No matter what happens to the shareholders, the business remains in operation until the directors decide on its dissolution.

For sole proprietorship, the owner is one with his business. Whatever happens to the business, the effect will strike the owner as well. If the owner has personal debt, creditors may pursue assets from the business regardless of its relation to the case. When you incorporate, all of your personal finances are different from the business. If you experience a personal financial crisis, you can protect your business assets through incorporation. This process may also resolve other cases such as the death of the owner. Normally, when the owner or partner dies, this automatically dissolves the business.

Another advantage of this process is the free transferability of interest from one person to another. In partnerships, one cannot simply transfer his or her interest to another without consent. Perhaps, the greatest benefit of this process is its limited liability against shareholders. When the company gets into debt, a creditor may attack the personal assets of the shareholders. Since the business and the owner are two separate entities, the creditor cannot pursue your properties to satisfy the debt. Because of this, the corporation can make decisions without endangering its shareholder's assets.

A downside of incorporating is the method of taxation. Since there are two separate entities, you may run the risk of double taxation. Your corporation needs to give corporate tax. When the corporation distributes the remaining income among its shareholders, it is taxed once more based on the individual's income tax bracket. You can get around this issue by forming an LLC.

An LLC or Limited Liability Company can secure your assets through liability protection. It can deduct specific expenses, reduce audit risk, and establish credibility with your customers. In essence, an LLC is a type of business entity offering better advantages than other structures.

Incorporation requires a lot of paperwork. You need to find a reliable company offering services to make this process faster and easier. You may need to undergo different registration processes to protect the legitimacy of your business. Trademarks are important to set up the identity of your business. You have to register your brand name and logo with the help of business filing experts. When you have copyrights for your business, you may sue anyone who tries to use your brand without consent. A domain name for your website is also important to secure. This is so your clients may easily find you on the Internet. It can be difficult to go through these things unless you have an expert to work on these documents.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6905883

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