There has definatley been a rise of "gurus" who make a lot of money recommending entity formation companies. As an alternative, here is info so you can learn how to do it yourself in each state. Most states are pretty easy to do. startup101.com/how-to-form-an-llc/

Most retailers want the form, but others will just need your number. You will only need it for your first purchase, but after that, they will have it on file. To make things a little easier, you could just fill out your information and leave it up to the retailer to enter their info. Thanks! Greg

Requirements vary slightly by state, but in general you would need to get the seller's permit in the state where your busines is located. Here is more info on the requirements by state - startup101.com/how-to-register-for-a-sales-tax-permit/ Since the customer wouldn't be purchasing the candle, you are considered the end-user of the candle. This means your business would pay the sales tax. Hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

@@_StartUp101 thanks

In Wyoming this is referred to a Sales Tax Certificate of Exemption. Here is more info on the process - startup101.com/wyoming-certificate-of-exemption/ Thanks! Greg

Many states require a physical address, but I don't see anything from the Illinois Secretary of State that would exclude you from doing so. In their guide to organizing an Illinois, they only say business address - www.ilsos.gov/publications/pdf_publications/c334.pdf Thanks for the great question! Greg

Bizee has a no-cost plan and a free registered agent too and I think they are a better company. Here's my review - kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpTamo1_lNaarbs

You wouldn't need a resale certificate as you don't pay state sales tax, but you will need a sales tax permit since your business operates in Texas. Here's how to register - startup101.com/texas-sales-tax-permit/

There is a lot to consider (and I'm not an attorney or accountant mind you), but a big consideration, even for an online business is taxation (both business and income). This article may help - startup101.com/best-state-to-form-llc/

@@_StartUp101 thanks!

Regardless of whether you sell online or in a store, if the state where your business is located requires a seller's permit, you'll need to get one. See each state's requirements here - startup101.com/how-to-register-for-a-sales-tax-permit/. If you are buying product, you would want to get a resale certificate so you don't pay sales tax and wait to get reimbursed. In addition, if you exceed thresholds when you sell to residents in other states, you will need to get a seller's permit (most are $100k in sales or 200 transactions in a year). More info - startup101.com/sales-tax-nexus/ Hope that helps! Greg

There is no requirement to create an operating agreement, unless the LLC was formed in California, Delaware, Maine, Missouri and New York. If your LLC is in one of the other states, you are free to create an operating agreement at any time as you see fit, otherwise the LLC will be subject to the default state rules. Hope this helps! Greg

@@_StartUp101 Greg, thank you so much for this information

If I'm understanding your question right, the annual report is different from your LLC's tax return, soif you're paying Northwest to do so, they will send in the annual report filing each year. Essentially, this report is used to renew the LLC. The taxes the LLC owes won't automatically come out of the bank account, as there is a form to file. The form will vary depending on the tax election of the LLC too. Northwest doesn't do accounting, and while anyone can learn how to do business taxes, do you/should you spend your time learning. In most cases, an accountant will save you a lot of time, headaches, and usually more money than doing it yourself. Hope I answered this right. If not, please let me know! Greg

It depends. Normally, you get one immediatley when filing online, or longer when filing by fax or mail, but it will take longer if you do not a Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) or Social Security Number (SSN).

Awesome! Either option is a great way to go!

Thank you!

Glad you found this video and that I could help! Greg

They won't likely refund the $100 filing fee since that is paid to the Georgia Secretary of State. Once the articles of organization are filed the LLC is live and active. There are a few other things you will need to look at after the LLC is formed, but it these have nothing to do with the LLC itself. One thing you may want to do is see if the LLC is active on the Secretary of State's website -ecorp.sos.ga.gov/BusinessSearch. This way you can see if the the LLC has been registered. I have a list of things you may need to do once the LLC has been registered - startup101.com/georgia-llc Of these, the EIN may be required if you want to be organized as a partnership, or taxed as a C or S corporation. The Beneficial Owner Information (BOI) report is a new requirement for all LLCs and corporations. You will also want to look at any licenses and permits, which would be required of any business, regardless of legal structure. My guess is that the $300 fee is the EIN, BOI, and operating agreement. That would be pretty high, though I show you how to do these yourself, and all are free. While working with IncAuthority may be been less than ideal, it's a small bump in the road. It may end up taking a little longer, but you will get through it and on your way soon! Let me know if you have any other questions! Greg

The EIN process literally takes five minutes so something has to be up. Have you contacted customer service? If it's been 6 months, I would consider calling to see what the issue is. startup101.com/how-to-apply-for-an-ein/

@@_StartUp101 yes i keep contacting customer service and tell me wait you will get it in the next days in your mailbox ,Anytime they tell me same story and i didnt get it until now

Bizee's basic plan will be enough, though there will still be a few things to register for. The essential part of the Bizee basic plan is the creation of an LLC with the state and a registered agent, which is needed unless you have someone physically living in the state of formation to act as the registered agent. You will still need to register for a FEIN and state tax department. Bizee can do this for a fee, though you can do it free yourself: FEIN - startup101.com/how-to-apply-for-an-ein/ Seller's Permit - startup101.com/how-to-register-for-a-sales-tax-permit/ While it's rare, some states require a state business license as well. For more info on getting a business registered in each state, you can check this resource out - startup101.com/state-guides/ Hope this helps! Greg

Hi Brady! The short answer is that Shopify doesn't collect sales tax for you, so you will have to get set up with the state and start remitting sales tax - startup101.com/does-shopify-collect-sales-tax/ You will want to get both, and here are the instructions: Florida Seller's Permit - startup101.com/florida-sellers-permit/ Resale Certificate - startup101.com/florida-resale-certificate/ The most common option for an individual owning a business is a sole proprietorship or LLC. The sole proprietorship is much less expensive than the LLC, but the LLC offers personal protection should the business get sued and greater tax flexibility that may lower your taxes. I'm not an attorney or accountant, so take this for what it's worth, but starting out, you may not have a lot of liability concerns, and the tax flexibility isn't usually a benefit until the business is making a $40k-$60k profit. While it may be a little bit of a pain to switch over, you can start as a sole proprietorship to get up and running quickly and inexpensively, and then once the business grows start an LLC. Here is some more info on the two that may be helpful - startup101.com/sole-proprietorship-vs-llc-whats-right-for-you/ Hope this helps! Greg

Regardless of who you use to file the LLC paperwork, they will not own the LLC. You would likely see their name as the Organizer. This is the person or entity who filed the paperwork and is who the state will contact if there are questions about the filing. The Organizer may or may not also be an owner, and let's say you were filing the paperwork yourself, you would be the Organizer and owner. A formation company, attorney, etc who fills out and submits the paperwork is the Organizer but not an owner. The other place where you might find Bizee's name is as a Registered Agent if you hire them to serve that role. Just like the Organizer, the Registered Agent doesn't have any ownership of the LLC. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions. Greg

Regardless of whether a business has employees or not, but the main things the worry free compliance service does is send an alert and file the annual (and in some states biennial) LLC renewal paperwork and file the . It also offers 2 yearly amendment updates (like if the name of the business or address changes), which aren't very common. The fee is $200 a year, which is really expensive in my opinion. Some people find value in it because it's one less thing to worry about, but in most states, the form usually takes less than 2-3 minutes to fill out. The state will also send an alert when the form is due. The $200 is in addition to the state fee, which can range from $0 to $500 depending on the state. Hope the helps. Let me know if you have any other questions! Greg

Did it work?

@@shayperry1631 the first time I did it yes

@@sirbeans7337 💪

Every state has different requirements and the Minnesota application is pretty straightforward. They do request additional info about the business, but it is voluntary. Here are the steps if you want to see them for yourself, but Bizee should have everything under control - startup101.com/minnesota-llc-articles-of-organization/

@@_StartUp101 thank you for the info much appreciated!!

In a nutshell, the only function of the registered agent is to get mail on behalf of the company. In some LLCs (and corporations too) where there are multiple owners, it makes sense to have a single point of contact. You're right that several states list the contact information for both the registered agent and members. Northwest does let you select their address for each of the members, though the member's name would still be listed with the Secretary of State. That's a great point about banking and anonymous LLCs. You will have to use a bank that operates in that state. I actually learned this the hard way when setting up a Wyoming LLC as there were a lot of hoops to jump through to use my Illinois bank. There are several options, but I used Mercury Bank which was pretty easy to get set up. Thanks for the great questions! If you have any more, please let me know. Greg

I assume they may have answered back already, but I'll give you some answers. -does the member name become public? This depends on the state. Some states required the names and addresses of the members in the filing, but I believe this is optional in NY. In NY, the name and address of the registered agent shows on the name database, and you can use their agent's name and address instead. Regardless of the state thought, by using Northwest you can use their address for the initial filing, which keeps your home address off of the database. -contact info is private correct? Contact info is private with them or when doing the LLC filing through the state. -If you apply directly in NY the state will email you confirmation details. Is it possible to also receive all this communication? Do they apply online or by mail with the state? That I'm not sure of. -If you want to cancel after the first year what is the process? It's super easy to cancel services in the Northwest dashboard. One of the things I really like about NW is they send an invoice 90 days before it is due, so you have a lot of time to cancel, unlike many other services that use auto renew and don't notify you of the upcoming charge. -how do they provide legal docs (operating agreement etc) if they are not lawyers? Every entity formation service has a disclaimer saying they are not lawyers (for liability reasons I would guess). The legal docs are all boilerplate templates and can't cover everyone's situation. Unlike other services, Northwest gives the operating agreement for free, but I always caution people to use an attorney for legal docs, especially if there are outside investors or members as they really need the guidance of a legal professional. -can you add services like annual report after you file later in the year? The NW dashboard (or any entity formation service) lets you add on additional services. -how is the customer service? I was happy with them when I sent test questions to them when doing my review and they have responded within 24 hours (weekdays) for me. Northwest is also the one I used when forming two other companies. One of those businesses didn't work out and I had forgotten to cancel the registered agent (despite their notification). When the bill hit, I emailed customer service and they reversed the charges. Some charges aren't going to be reversable such as hard costs like LLC renewals that are paid to the state, but many of their services should be. Hope this helps some! Let me know if you have any other questions. Greg

@@_StartUp101 thank you! I was able to speak to them after your message came through.

Regarless of where it's owners are from, the LLC is a separate entity that is required to file annual reports (biennial in some states). Hope that helps! Greg

Thank you for your respond. I mean foreign-owned US single LLC

Even though you don't physically touch the product, you will probably need a seller's permit and resale certificate. There are a few vendors who dropship and essentially give you a commission from the profit of the product. Most however are selling the product to you to wholesale and you sell to the end user of the product at retail. Ask your dropshipper how the process works and they will let you know what documentation they need. Hope this helps! Greg

You will need to get a sales tax permit since you are selling a taxable product. Here are the steps to get one - startup101.com/texas-sales-tax-permit/ The resale certificate will allow you to purchase your raw ingredients without paying sales tax on them, which will help free up your cash flow until your baked goods are sold. Here is how you get one - startup101.com/texas-resale-certificate/ Hope this helps, but if you have any other questions, please let me know! Greg

We're in the SAME boat and I'm 🤬 right now...GGRRRR

Funding is one of the hardest challenges in starting a business. I have an article with many sources for startups that may help - startup101.com/finding-the-money-to-start-a-business/

Thank you!

Thank you!

If I were to guess what they are selling you, only one is required. This is the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) report which is a federal filing that became required at the beginning of this year. It's free to do yourself - startup101.com/a-guide-to-boi-report-filing/. If you want to have someone do it for you, it should be well under $100. The other two that may be needed are the operating agreement and Employer Identification Number. An operating agreement is the rules for how the LLC will operate. This isn't required in South Dakota. It's not a bad idea to have one, but since it's you and your husband and no outside owners, it's not as critical in my opinion. We have a free template here - startup101.com/south-dakota-llc-operating-agreement/, and there are a lot of others that you can find online. The EIN is a unique number that is assigned to the LLC, like how a social security number is assigned to an individual. As long as you don't want to elect S corp taxation (you probably won't gain much with this in the early stages of the business, but talk to your accountant). There's no cost to get an EIN and it takes just a few minutes - startup101.com/how-to-register-for-a-south-dakota-ein/ Hope this helps some! Greg