WOT - Going legit? Advise for doing a sole proprietorship, Why does it cost so damn much? Options

[Dr Evil]

I am looking into doing a sole proprietorship and the cost to start one is more than I expected (about $400). Anyone have resources to offer or info?

[byndbad914]

keep in mind the "corporate veil" is easily broken, especially when it is just you. If, for example from above, somebody died and it could be directly attributed to your trans rebuild, a good lawyer will pierce that veil and take your assets. C Corps are the hardest to pierce (as I recall with the various requirements to be one and so forth) but even those get pierced, especially when it is a small group of people, let alone an individual.

Also when I had my own biz and wanted to set up as a corp for that veil, the facts are that pretty much any agreement that I had to enter (such as my lease for space) I had to sign the bottom line, I couldn't sign it as the corp - they wanted my name on the line or nothing at all. Same for all of my suppliers - they wanted a name on the bottom line so if I decided to walk away they were gonna get paid or get some right my personal assets. My accountant advised I not even bother with paying the fees and doing all of that - I got a resale # and a DBA from my local city and called it a day.

Lastly, you should be able to have a biz, declare income and losses on your personal taxes, and not have a resale # or DBA, especially if it is a labor biz. You can't typically tax labor (check your specific state I guess) so you don't have to have all that setup. If you want the resale # to have access to distributor pricing, pass part taxes to the customer, etc, then just do the local stuff.

Best advice I can give in the end tho' is find an accountant with somewhat questionable scruples and get his opinion (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) one that is willing to state how things really are, not how they are on paper (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)