Want to become legal.....

[biggin69]

Originally Posted by [b Quote[/b] (Team Gopher @ Feb. 24 2007,5:23)]DBA (doing business as) is just you doing business under a fictitious business name. So when your business is sued, it is you being sued. This is what concerns me. I want to stick with residential only. I only had 7 accounts last year and only 2 of them are a sure thing this year. As far as taxes go, I am sure that I will have someone do them but I am afraid that I will not bring in enough $$$ to support a Corporation so I will probably go with the DBA. What forms are you guys talking about on that link?

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

What county do you live in? I want to check to see if your county offices have forms online too.

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[Steve]

This looks like the state form to fill out.

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOSApps....ode=534

But I think it might be easier to register your dba in your local county.

[biggin69]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Team Gopher @ Feb. 24 2007,7:35)]What county do you live in? I want to check to see if your county offices have forms online too.

I live in Butler County Ohio.

I found this http://www.odod.state.oh.us/edd....n=step2

Would I benefit from an LLC? Can a business with only one person get this?

[Steve]

Oh yes thats a good link.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Would I benefit from an LLC? Can a business with only one person get this?

Yes you can start an LLC with only one person. I do think you would benefit from it too. It would really get you started with a firm foundation.

Keep us posted on what you decide to do.

from that site you posted.
Limited Liability Company
Can be organized by one or more person(s). Then, company interests are sold (like shares in a corporation). The people who buy the interests are called members. Unless the members agree otherwise, control of the business is distributed according to how much money each member has invested.
Cost to register with the Secretary of State: $125

[biggin69]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Team Gopher @ Feb. 24 2007,8:15)]Then, company interests are sold (like shares in a corporation). The people who buy the interests are called members. Unless the members agree otherwise, control of the business is distributed according to how much money each member has invested.

Ths is the part that I do not understand.

[Steve]

See one of the benefits of being a corporation is that you can have shareholders and sell shares. If you are doing this all on your own, you would own all the shares and be the sole shareholder.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Unless the members agree otherwise, control of the business is distributed according to how much money each member has invested.

This means control of the business (unless you create another way to handle things) is done based on how much each person invested.

So for instance, say you and I start this LLC. I put in $6000 and you put in $4000, I would own 60% of the company.

Does that help?


If you are the sole investor, you are then the sole owner and control 100% of the company.

[biggin69]

That makes sense but what about the tax requirements?

[Steve]

Well see one of the reasons why a lot of new lawn care operators go the route of dba is because they use their social security number as their tax i.d. They file their taxes as they always do but add the income from their business and show their expenses etc.

When you go the route of llc or s-corp you get a tax id for that new legal entity you have created which is your business corp.

You have to file additional taxes for that entity. It's a little more time consuming and expensive. Taxes as you know are complicated and each state is different. These are just some basics so what you could do is talk to your accountant and ask what they advise as far as this goes.

But at least this gives you some basics.

[biggin69]

Thanks!