Starting a Business in Arizona

January 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Little Waitrose - Birmingham Snow Hill - Colmore Row - Now open - sign by Elliott Brown from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Little Waitrose – Birmingham Snow Hill – Colmore Row – Now open – sign by Elliott Brown from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Starting a business is exciting and can be overwhelming at times with everything that has to get done. I wish more business owners put more energy into creating structure within their business when they contemplate and launch their endeavors. It will save a lot of pain and frustration in the long run. If your plans for 2015 include starting a business, make sure these steps are on your to-do list in the first month or two of starting your company.

Discuss with your accountant what type of entity you should form. Every company needs an accountant. In Arizona, you have the option to create a C corporation, an S corporation, a B corporation, or an LLC. I tell all my clients to meet with their accountant to make sure they select the right entity and understand the corresponding tax implications and other responsibilities.

Check with the Arizona Corporation Commission and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to ensure that the name you want for your business is available. Many companies make the mistake of assuming that just because the website domain they want is available that their desired company or product name hasn’t been registered as a trademark for another company. If you use a name that has already been registered by someone else in the same or similar industry, they can make you rebrand.

Submit the necessary paperwork and fee with the Arizona Corporation Commission. Consider filing your trade name with the Secretary of State’s Office as well. The forms to file your Articles of Incorporation or your Articles of Organization are on the Arizona Corporation Commission’s website. Make sure you get all the supplemental forms you need. The standard filing fee is $60 for a corporation and $50 for an LLC. The filing fee to register a trade name with the Secretary of State is $10. (Registering a trade name prevents other companies in Arizona from using the same name. It is not a substitute for filing a federal trademark.)

Create a separate bank account for your business and set up your accounting system. It’s imperative that you keep your company’s corporate veil intact. I strongly recommend using an accounting system like QuickBooks. It makes life so much easier when you’re reviewing your books and preparing for taxes.

If your LLC has more than one owner, create an operating agreement. If you have a corporation, write your bylaws. These documents will dictate how you will run your business, including how you will divide responsibilities and how you will address problems when they occur. They will help you decide in advance how you will address situations that are likely to occur.

Create the contract templates you will need for your business. If applicable, write the terms of service for your website. If you are going to be hire to provide a product or service by multiple customers, you will want to have contract templates for those interactions. This creates consistency and uniformity which will help you build your reputation as well as be more efficient. You can customize your templates to suit your needs. I encourage business owners to look at others’ templates for ideas of what they might want to include but be leery of using someone’s template unless it’s been reviewed by your lawyer.

Discuss what intellectual property your business will or might create and what strategies you will use to protect it. Every business has intellectual property: copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets. It’s often the company’s most valuable asset. It is important you understand what you have and the best ways to protect it.

Ideally, you would have a lawyer involved from the beginning of your business, if only to tell you what you should do and when you’re better off hiring a lawyer to work for you. Even if you’re on a shoestring budget, you can find a reasonably priced business lawyer or resources for startups to assist you. It’s also prudent to schedule an annual consultation with your lawyer to educate yourself about what legal issues might be on the horizon and to get advice about what more you should do to protect your business as you have the ability to afford it. It’s easier and cheaper to prevent problems than to clean up the mess when something bad happens.

If you want to chat with me about starting a business in Arizona, feel free to connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, or you can email me.

Please visit my homepage for more information about Carter Law Firm.

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What is a Statutory Agent?

December 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
FW Pomeroy's statue of Justice atop the Old Bailey by Ben Sutherland from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

FW Pomeroy’s statue of Justice atop the Old Bailey by Ben Sutherland from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

If your plans for 2015 include starting a business, you need to understand what a statutory agent is.

Starting a business usually begins with filing paperwork with your state’s corporation commission to create an LLC or a corporation and paying a fee. (Talk with your accountant to determine which entity is right for you. And yes, every business owner needs an accountant.)

Filling out the paperwork is a fairly straight forward process, and part of that will be designating a statutory agent for the business. A business can be sued just like a person. In the event that the business gets sued, the process server will need to know how to serve the business. They can’t serve a building – they need to serve a person. Your statutory agent is the person who will accept service (notice that you’re being sued) on behalf of the company. You have to provide a name and a street address.

As long as you live in Arizona, you can be your own statutory agent. Most business owners I work with choose this option. The only thing I remind them about is this information is publicly available on the corporation commission website, so if you’re running a home-based business, you’ll be using your home address. For people who live out of state or who don’t want to be their own statutory agent, there are companies who will provide this service for you. You pay a monthly or annual fee and they agree to accept service on your behalf. Many of these companies will also provide your business address as well.

In the event you are in a position where you want to sue a company, you’ll have to look up that company’s statutory agent to determine where to have them served. It’s an important part of beginning a lawsuit.

A gentleman called me a few weeks ago asking me to explain what a statutory agent is. The phrase “statutory agent” can sound scary to some, but the scope of the position’s responsibility is very narrow.

If you want to chat with me about your business plans for 2015, feel free to connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, or you can email me.

Please visit my homepage for more information about Carter Law Firm.

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Starting an Arizona LLC – Here Are The Forms You Need

December 12, 2013 by 1 Comment
Four Seasons Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona by Daniel Spiess

Four Seasons Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona by Daniel Spiess

Starting a business in Arizona is fairly straightforward process. It requires paperwork and money. That sounds simple enough until you look at the Corporation Commission’s website of forms. It can be a challenge to figure out what forms you need to submit. If you don’t do it right the first time, the Corporation Commission will make you do it again. If you want to create a manager-managed LLC in Arizona, here are the forms you’ll need. (There is an option to create a member-managed LLC, but I never advise client to do this, and here’s why.)

Cover Sheet – You need to include this cover sheet every time you send something in to the Corporation Commission.

Articles of Organization – This is the main application for starting a business where you have to state the name and address of the company, whether it’s manger or member-managed, who is the statutory agent. The instructions sheet will tell you about some of the limits regarding your company name and answer other common questions.

Manager Structure Attachment – You must include this with your Articles of Organization and list all the managers who own 20% or more of the company. If you think this is basically a repetition of a lot of the information from the Articles of Organization, you’re right.

Statutory Agent Acceptance – An LLC can be sued. Your statutory agent is the designated person who will accept service on behalf of the when the company gets sued. You can be the company’s statutory agent. It doesn’t have to be a third party, but you could hire someone to be your agent if you wanted. You must submit these forms and your filing fee to the Arizona Corporation Commission to start your business.

You have the option to pay an additional fee to expedite your application, but in most cases that is not necessary. You are allowed to act as if the business exists when you submit your paperwork to the Corporation Commission.

Remember one of the benefits of having an LLC is to protect your personal assets in the event that the business is sued. If you set things up correctly, only the business assets will be on the line, but to do this you must keep your corporate veil intact.

If your plans for 2014 include starting a business, you may also want to check out this post – How to Start a Business in Arizona. If you want to chat with me about this or any other topic, you can connect with me on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, or you can email me. You can also subscribe to the Carter Law Firm newsletter. Please visit my homepage for more information about Carter Law Firm.

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How To Start a Business in Arizona

July 26, 2012 by 8 Comments
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Ribbon Cutting by US Army Corps of Engineers, Carter Law Firm, Ruth Carter

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Ribbon Cutting by US Army Corps of Engineers

This week I had two speaking engagements on the basics of starting a business in Arizona. I thought I’d expand my list of tips into the ideal timeline an entrepreneur should follow for setting up their business.

  1. Figure out what type of business you want to have.
  2. Select a name for your business. From a trademark registration perspective, it’s best to pick a name that contains a word or words that don’t already exist. Also be mindful of any business name restrictions that exist in your industry.
  3. Do a search on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website to see if someone in a similar business has registered a similar name for their business. If they have, they can prevent you from using your desired trade name. Run a Google search as well to see if someone has a similar name but hasn’t registered it with the USPTO.
  4. Create a business entity by sending the appropriate form and payment to the Arizona Corporation Commission.
  5. Open a bank account for your business. Never use your personal accounts for business expenses or your business accounts for personal expenses.
  6. If you have more than one owner, create an operating agreement. This is a contract that dictates how the company is owned, how you will run your business, and how you will resolve problems. You need this no matter who your partners are, including your spouse and family members.
  7. When you have a business, you have intellectual property – at least copyrights and trademarks, and perhaps trade secrets and patentable ideas. Create an intellectual property strategy to protect these things. This is another time when you should at least buy an hour with a lawyer.
  8. Draft contract templates for documents you will regularly use with vendors and customers. Many business owners get contract templates from the internet. This is an acceptable way to start this project, but you should have a lawyer review them to make sure they are legal and address your needs.
  9. Register your trademark with the USPTO.
  10. If you have employees, you will need employment contracts and an employee handbook that includes a social media policy that complies with the National Labor Relations Act.

Ideally, every new business would have a lawyer to help them set up avoid any legal missteps, but many entrepreneurs can’t afford it. There are a lot of things you can do without a lawyer’s help, but you need to be well-informed about what your’e required to do when going into business for yourself and when it’s worth it to pay for a lawyer (like me).

It’s much easier and cheaper in the long run to consult a lawyer a few times when you’re starting your business than to have to hire one to clean up the mess that can result if you do it the wrong way.

Feel free to connect with me via Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Please visit my homepage for more information about Carter Law Firm.

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