Articles of Incorporation

idie

I am officially an LLC now, and have to write up my Articles of Incorporation. I wonder how detailed I have to be. (I guess every state is different. I am in Utah.) Purpose: Photography. Do I have to be more specific? Seems like a silly question, but I have no idea.
thanks.

Zerodog

I tried on my own and it was pretty daunting. I had my accountant help me do it. It ended up being super vague. So vague that when I started out I was making mountain bike parts and building motorcycle suspension, now I am moving into photography, and it think it still encompasses what I am doing now.

If you are in SLC and need help with it you could give my guy a call.

Sunstruck

Congrats on your LLC! Which one did you go with? Member or Member/Manager? Have you talked to your lawyer or accountant about this? Depending upon your state, you will need to register with your Secretary of State. Ct. charges $10.00 a year for a "Certificate of Existence" and we pay $250.00 a year corporation taxes.

Penny

chrisjohnson

Pay a lawyer to do it. You need to be as vague as you can be without straying over the legal lines. You don't know what you might be rolling into your business in five years time and you don't want to reincorporate or find there is some technicality that prevents you using the assets to eg finance your own mortgage, or pay you a pension.

idie

Thanks for the input. I will definitely ask a professional.

r9jackson

Check out DIY
While I agree that you should have a lawyer look at it I found that I could read some books and come up with something reasonable. Nolo Press has lots of good books for the do it yourself people. They even sell inexpensive templates that work for many different entities.

I have set up a non-profit that qualified for 501(C)3 status and that is pretty hard to do. I have set up all the paperwork for my photography business by reading the guides from the state and many books through Amazon and Nolo.

Do note that my business is not a corporation yet and a sole proprietorship is easier to set up.

idie

After googling, asking, reading, etc., my accountant told me that I don't have to write Articles of Incorporation because I am a single member LLC. Now we know.

jwiley

Does anyone know of a good accountant in the Chicago area? Thx.