I have to say after what I have been through in the last three months in closing my Maryland LLC and reorganizing into a Virginia LLLC, that there is really room for a business concierge service to help business owners navigate the process.
It is hard to know exactly what to do and incredibly stressful to navigation the Federal, local and State hurdles to be properly and legally set up. I would have paid for a service to help me or hold my hand through the process. But as there does not appear to be a great resource, I will share some of the information that I have discovered.
Set Up Your Entity
1. Use MyCorporation.com for your setup, but make sure you make the decision from your own research on what is best for your needs. My Corporation has made it very easy for me to get my State LLC and even got my new Federal EIN.
2. They do not get the state payroll tax or state unemployment numbers for you. (I wish they did.)
3. Plan on this taking about a week or less.
Get a Local Business License
Okay, here’s where is starts to get time consuming but let me demystify this for you. One you need a business license to operate even if you have a home office. Typically you need to go to that office first and get papers, they you will go to the local zoning office and then pay there for them to review the zoning on your office location. Make sure you take all your business entity papers with you when you go.
So two stops and typically one payment. Take a check book with you. I was able to get my business license the same day and got the final zoning approval in about 10 days.
You need all this done before you even go to the bank to set up a checking account.
Save a morning to get these steps done.
Get a Local Business Checking Account
You’ll need just about every paper you can think of. It is best to make copies in advance so very important organization papers are not jumbled up or lost by your bank photocopying your records.
Make sure you take your business license. You won’t need your zoning permit. Also take your organization papers and personal identification.
Plan on being at the bank for about one to two hours. You should be able to leave with a new business checking and savings account as well as online access to your money.
Understand that some banks, I did run into this, will hold deposits for 10 days for new accounts so make sure you have access to money during this period. I recommend putting a portion into your new account or paying to take cashier or certified checks for deposit as these will only be put on hold for three days.
After your account is about 30 days old your bank will not hold your money so long. Now for me my money I deposit one day is available the next, but my first deposit was help 10 full days really putting me into a jam.
Call or Get Online and Set up State Withholding and Unemployment Accounts
If you will have employees you need to take care of business before hiring as there is sometimes a delay. Most states allow you to apply for a payroll tax withholding account online. Some will give you a number right away online and others will regular mail it to your address on file. Plan on about a one week delay.
For unemployment, you may get a number right away and in other cases may have to wait several weeks to get one. Virginia where I am does not even give you a number until you reach a threshold.
Plan ahead before you hire to have this in place. Even before you hire though if you have numbers you’ll have to file a zero dollar return. Make sure you know the dates your tax reports are due to prevent a penalty.
Check Insurance Requirements
You may find out that you need special insurance if you hire employees. I have to have Workers Compensation Insurance. It costs me under $300 a year for coverage, but took over two weeks to get it for my business. I had to call several agents to check price. Insureon is a great place to check out. Through them I am using The Hartford for my insurance.
That’s all the super important stuff that you need to know and do to open a business. I found this all out by trial and error and hours on the phone. Hopefully this blog post will help you to save some time and at least know what needs to be done to lower your stress level.