If you are thinking of incorporating your business in Hawaii, you might want to think about buying a corporate seal, especially if you are going to incorporate as a c corp and do business in other countries. If you plan to do business in other countries, you want to buy corporate seals because they are required in order for you to do business in foreign countries. You can also buy corporate seals when doing business in the United States because they can be useful. For example, corporate seals are great for opening business bank accounts because they prove that the business exists, you can also use them when issuing stock.
When choosing your corporation’s name you must make sure that, it ends with corporation, incorporated, or an abbreviation of those two words, so that people can easily identify it as a corporation. The other requirement that you must meet when incorporating your business is that the name cannot be the same as or similar to any other business that is registered to do business in the state of Hawaii.
When you begin to fill out your articles of incorporation the first thing that you need to include is the physical address of your corporation. You will also need to include the directors’ information. In Hawaii you will need to have at least three directors, the only way that you can have less than three directors is if you have less than three shareholders. If that is the case, you will need to have the same number of directors and shareholders. While there is no age requirement for the directors, there is a residence requirement. At least one of the listed directors has to be a resident of the state of Hawaii so that they can receive any court filings for the business. Officers are not required to be listed in the articles of incorporation, but you must include stock information.
Once you have filled out the articles of incorporation you will need to file the articles of incorporation with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. When filing your articles of incorporation with the department you will need to pay the appropriate filing fee, which if you decide to add additional stock or par value there will not be any additional fees. Once you have paid the filing fees for the articles of incorporation, the state will process your paperwork. Once the request has been processed and approved, you will receive your certificate of incorporation for your corporation, which makes everything official.
Once you have gotten your certificate of incorporation you will need to hold your corporations annual meeting. At the first meeting, you will want to adopt your corporation’s bylaws, but you will also want to elect your board of directors. You will also need to research any yearly requirements for your corporation so you can maintain your corporation in good standing. Currently the state of Hawaii requires your corporation to file annual statements with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs by March 31 each year.
If you are incorporating in Hawaii, you need to be aware of the income tax rate that they charge. Currently Hawaii is charging 4.4% of the first $25,000 of taxable income, if you have taxable income between $25,001 and $100,000 you will be charged a rate of 5.4%, and if you make over $100,000 you will have to pay an income tax rate of 6.4%.
