As you may know, there are many ways to incorporate a business in Florida. While companies exist to do the legwork and paperwork for you, the most direct way is to contact the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations website itself. When you visit the website for the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporation, you will notice they are surprisingly user friendly. Their website houses various informative databases and in-house automated filing systems that will allow you to incorporate your Florida-based business online. By incorporating online, you can do away with the traditional middleman used in incorporating a business and inexpensively file all the papers yourself. In addition, this filing can be completed without leaving the comfort of your office or home. Alternatively, you can also contact the Florida Department of State, Division of Corporation by mail, courier, phone, or email. Generally speaking, there are three forms that incorporation may take: a non-profit, for-profit, or an S corporation. While non-profit and for-profit are perhaps self-explanatory, the notion of an S corporation may require some explanation. S corporations are domestic corporations that are eligible to avoid cumbersome double taxation to both the shareholders and the corporation alike. They are taxed on capital gains and passive income, but given exemptions from other federal income tax. On tax returns, the S corporation's shareholders include their share of the corporation's separately stated entities of income, deduction, loss, and credit, along with their share of non-separately stated income or loss of income. S corporations are taxed on estimated capital gains, built-in gains, the excess net passive income, and investment credit recapture. In terms of eligibility, S corporations need to clear the requirements with the IRS and receive their designations before incorporating in Florida. If incorporation sounds like a daunting task, you may consider contacting a professional consultant or law firm to assist you. Of course, it will be more expensive than completing the process yourself; however, you will gain peace of mind knowing that the process was completed correctly. |
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