Suburban Journals:
Starting a business is not a process to be taken lightly, but neither does the experience have to be daunting.
Alan Hauff, small business specialist with the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said those who want to be their own bosses should follow 5 basic steps to get a small business off the ground.
First an entrepreneur must choose a name for the business and check with the Missouri Secretary of State to make sure the name is available and not easily confused with another business name. Names can be viewed online. Once a name has been decided, a legal structure must be chosen. A business can be registered with the Secretary of State as a sole proprietorship for $7, a partnership for $105, a Limited Liability Company (LLC) for $105, or a corporation for $58. Hauff stressed the importance on carefully choosing a structure that fits the business best.
‘I don’t like to see people pick a form based on its cost,’ Hauff said.
Another important step is to call the Internal Revenue Service to receive a Federal Employee Identification Number (EIN), which separates a business owner’s business identification from the owner’s individual information.
According to Hauff, those starting businesses as a sole proprietor with no employees are not required to receive an EIN, but Hauff still suggests doing so. Otherwise, those business owners will often have to give out their Social Security number with business information, increasing the risk of identify theft.
Corporations also have to register form number 2643 with the Missouri Department of Revenue for taxing purposes. Read it all…
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