Here is our situation, we are in the process of starting a hosting business. One of us lives in Washington, one of us lives in California. Hardware has already been purchased (servers, switches etc) and a great datacenter has been located withing 30 minutes of one of us (in LA). Startup and a year of operational funding is secure (without loans). Domains have been acquired. All is ready but the LLC. We are now in need of getting an LLC (or possibly LLP). Could anyone give us some general recommendations? We are looking at WA, NV, DE and CA. CA does not seem to tempting with the fees and taxes. The master business license, is fairly cheap and taxes seem good in WA. Where 1 owner, and most employees will probably be. So basically, we would like tips/ideas from those who have filed for an LLC. Thanks, Jon
If this post should be in the legal forum, please move it. (Sorry its 5:30 am here, and the coffee is not done.). Thanks, Jon
I live in Washington also. I sure wouldn't register here. I'm not completely up on different business entities, but you should check into a Limited Liability Partnership. For asset protection it's tough to beat. Even the IRS hasn't found a way around it. I've also read that Wyoming is a good state to register in.
You really should have an attorney draw up a partnership agreement. For instance, what happens if your partner is killed in an auto accident? You two know what should happen but without an agreement in writing you may lose everything you have built/invested due to delays in sorting out the legalities. Being in two different states can't make that any easier. The attorney should also be able to advise you on where to organize. Talk to friends/family who have small businesses and ask for referrals, if they respect their business attorney. A good business attorney should be a CPA as well. Tom