Creating a Legal Business Entity

If you feel confident about how to launch a business in New York State, go straight to the link and create your business.

Here's the link: http://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/

If you are new, don't get overwhelmed with the process.  New York State is a bitch to do business in. If you're not careful, they will bill you for not filing your taxes even if you don't have any revenue. The saying "if you can succeed here, you can succeed anywhere" is certainly true in business.

In order to register your business first choose your name. See our choosing your business name blog.  Next register it, preferably as a LLC.  This will give you instant credibility.

Follow the easy steps below. Don't get overwhelmed with reading everything. Keep it simple.

1) Do a name search:      http://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/bus_entity_search.html
If your name is available, Great!

2)  Get your tax ID: http://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/ein_taxnumbers.html
This is like a social security number for your business. Use it to seperate your business from personal. The government uses it to track the taxes you are responsible to pay as an employer and business owner.

3) Create your business:  http://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/llcguide.html
It's best to do an LLC.  This helps establish credibility and also begins the separation of personal from business liability.  You can form it the moment you are about to collect a payment.  You can do a DBA up until then. Lawyers may not like this advice. It really depends on when you begin to incur liability.

Be sure to set up a file at home and keep all of this in it.  I am in the habit of scanning everything and keeping it in my google drive.