Free Incorporation/LLC Service From MyCorporation
Already started your own business, or thinking of doing so? Want to go “legit” and form an LLC or corporation? I received an heads up from about a promo next week Tuesday where you can get a free incorporation service worth $149:
On Tuesday, November 11, 2008 from 6am to 6pm (pacific time), MyCorporation is offering a special promotion titled FREE FOR A DAY. For one day only, MyCorporation will process a new Corporation or Limited Liability Company for FREE. That’s a savings of $149 off regular service fees (note: document shipping, state fees, publication fees, and additional product fees are additional). This is the first time this promotion has ever been offered!
MyCorporation is owned by Intuit, of TurboTax and Quicken fame. (And more recently, of free Quicken Online.) These types of pseduo-legal services are a middle ground between filling out the filing paperwork all by yourself and hiring a lawyer to do it. They perform services like checking your name to make sure it is not violating any other trademarks, making sure you filled out the forms with no common errors, and helping you start out with all the additional paperwork obligations of a separate legal entity.
Although the standard advice always seems to be “go with a lawyer”, I ended up incorporating my own home business in 2006 with one of their popular competitors, LegalZoom. I was very satisfied with their service, and even talked to a real person on the phone about some details. (They do a lot of cheap wills and trusts too.) I think I paid about $200 + filing fees. A lawyer would have cost around $1,000 + filing fees.
The decision to incorporate is not always simple, but I wanted to throw it out there so interested folks can think a bit about good reasons to incorporate, whether to go LLC or corporation, possible available names, and other details. One book that I recommend is from Nolo Press is LLC or Corporation? How to Choose the Right Form for Your Business. I chose to go the S-Corp route primarily to reduce self-employment taxes. The window for this promotion is small, but you still have to pay $50+ in state filing fees, so don’t take it too lightly. Offer is supposed to show up on the website on Monday.
Update: MyCorporation is now running a promotion where they havefree filing services for all of December with coupon code MYGIFT!
Find more in Entrepreneurial | 11/8/08, 3:25am | Trackback
November 8th, 2008 at 7:30 am
All I can say is you get what you pay for…
November 8th, 2008 at 8:19 am
I was about to go through all the paperwork myself this weekend. Instead, I’m going to wait until Tuesday. Perfect timing for this post- thanks Jonathan! I’ll be forming an LLC, and I may post here with my experiences afterward.
November 8th, 2008 at 8:25 am
(couldn’t edit comment above)
@Alexandria: You are exactly right. Only a lawyer can give you the potential money-saving knowledge of his/her experience. For example, my lawyer friend (I am in no position to give legal advice - take this with a grain of salt) has had experiences where an LLC or Corp was filed incorrectly, and since the person’s name was listed as part of the LLC, they were able to go after that person.
I see intuit and legal zoom as an inexpensive way for small businesses to get started. If you’re going to be making serious money or selling lots of service, you’re going to want to spend more money to make sure you’re protected from horror stories like the example I just mentioned.
November 8th, 2008 at 10:47 am
FYI, in California, if you incorporate (LLC, s-corp, c-corp) before the end of the year, you are liable for the $800/year franchise tax for this tax year (as well as next year’s). I asked the franchise tax board if there were any exceptions, and the only exception is if your incorporation date is in the last 15 days of December AND your corp makes no money in this period.
In California, it might be best to wait for the new year.
To minimize time, I was thinking about filing in December since it takes about a month to process the paperwork from what I’ve read. However, this may be a roll of the dice as I’m assuming your incorporation date will be some later in the process.
Also, to take advantage of the free incorporation deal, we would need Intuit to place a hold on the processing. I don’t know if they will do this.
November 8th, 2008 at 11:02 am
I recently formed an LLC in Ohio and all I had to do was fill out forms available on the states website and mail them in with a check for the fees. There is very little involved in creating an LLC, the IRS will give you your EIN instantaneously after filling out an online form. The paperwork is so simple (at lease in Ohio) that I don’t know why you would pay $150 for it. I recommend reading about it at the library and filling out the paper work yourself. Save the money because these companies are not giving you any thing value added.
November 8th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Doesn’t take much value to be worth ZERO….
November 8th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Jonathan,
thanks for sharing this - I was just talking to a tax guy last night about getting an LLC - the timing is perfect!
November 8th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Saying the filing fees are $50+ can be a little misleading because it’s much more expensive than that in Massachusetts. If you’re incorporating (S-Corp) it’s $275 to register and an additional $125/year to file an annual report. If you’re thinking about forming an LLC, it’s even more expensive at $500 registration plus $500/year to file an annual report.
November 8th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
I formed a single member LLC prior to launching my financial blog. Even after forming an LLC or other corporate entity you need to be careful to ensure that you keep your personal and corporate finances separate. If someone really wanted to come after you they could attempt to “pierce the corporate veil”. Keeping your company’s/partnerships finances and activities clearly separated from your personal business helps to prevent piercing.
As an aside there is a coolness factor to having a corporation/partnership, an EIN, and a checkbook with your company’s name on it. : )
November 9th, 2008 at 8:47 am
[...] is offering free business incorporation/LLC services @ My Money [...]
November 9th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Thanks, Jonathan, and very timely indeed. This weekend I’m also forming an LLC with a friend. BTW, we’re forming it in Oregon. Did you incorporate in Oregon too? If so, what was your experience with the state?
November 9th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
[...] and usuall better tax structure. However, it involves legal review which can be expensive. According to the Money Blog, however, MyCorporation is offering LLC formation for free on Tuesday, N…. You’ll still probably pay something like $50 in state filing fees, but that’s a lot [...]
November 9th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
[...] and usually better tax structure. However, it involves legal review which can be expensive. According to the Money Blog, however, MyCorporation is offering LLC formation for free on Tuesday, N…. You’ll still probably pay something like $50 in state filing fees, but that’s a lot [...]
November 10th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Jonathan, do you know what the value add here would be? If I can do it for free on my own, why would I go with these guys?
November 10th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I just started doing accounting and finance consulting as a 1099 contractor. Is there any benefit or reason I should incorporate?
November 10th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
This is awesome! It is great that MyCorporation is reaching out to the nation in our time of need. It seems to be a really easy process. Just enter coupon code Free149 at the time of submitting your corporation or llc order.
Also, in response one of the questions posted, my friend placed an incorporation order with MyCorporation and chose the “delayed filing” option so they will not be filed until the beginning of 2009! She said she will never use any other company to incorporate - they really know the business!
November 10th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
[...] coupon code for a free LLC or Inc filing from is MyCorporation is FREEBIZ-149D. More information here. Again, this is only valid 11/11/08, 6AM–6PM PST, so don’t miss it. A reader writes in that [...]
November 10th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
The free coupon code is released. - valid 11/11/08, 6AM–6PM PST.
November 11th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
I set up an S-corp by myself and found it to be pretty easy. A lot of these firms don’t add a lot of value in my opinion as you still have to fill out all the forms and they just file them for you.
In fact, it is probably better to read up a little bit and do it yourself as that way you understand the process. I don’t know for example, if these firms remind you to have an annual meeting of shareholders or the board of directors, (both of which take a total of about one minute a year to change the date on last years minutes, print it out and sign it again…) but those are things you’ll need to know.
A great book for do-it-yourselfers is “How To Start and Run Your Own Corportation - S-Corporations for Small Business Owners” which is self published by Peter I. Hupalo. It is S-corp specific, but if that is what you are looking to set up, that is a good thing.
Like Jonathan, I run an S-corp for certain tax advantages such as the ability to setup a solo 401K. There are other advantages depending on how much you make.
November 12th, 2008 at 3:06 am
Sole proprietors may also setup a solo 401k. An s-corp isn’t required for that.
November 21st, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Actually, the fund you were discussing has gone from 16 to 11.49 in a year. Not exactly breaking even!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 1st, 2008 at 7:49 am
[...] you missed it last month, MyCorporation is offering their incorporation filing services for free again this week (12/1-12/5) [...]
December 1st, 2008 at 9:25 am
FREE FOR A WEEK - I missed it on 11/11, but I just called, and MyCorporation is FREE for this week! …this is amazing. I just called and got a free LLC, plus they rushed my order (put it ahead of the rest of the pack) and I’ll have it formed before the end of the year, which is what I need!
December 1st, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Update: Free for another week!
December 2nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
S-corporation total is $269 in GA…
December 8th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Free for the Month of December!
December 15th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Be careful, you really pay for what you get. This company is not a non profit they dont make money giving their service away. read the terms of use carefully to make sure you dont end up on some auto pay program.