How to incorporate in Illinois
If you are thinking about incorporating in Illinois one way to go about doing it is to hire a corporate law firm. A corporate law firm will complete everything for you, including an operating agreement if one is needed. The one thing that you need to think about when using a corporate law firm to form your corporation is that they are going to charge you by the hour, which can get rather expensive.
Another option that you have is to hire a business that specializes in forming corporations. These businesses often charge you a flat fee to prepare the required paperwork. The flat fee is usually much less than what you would have to pay with a corporate law firm. If you do not want to pay any extra fees, you can form the corporation yourself. If that is the case, he only fees that you would need to pay are the filing fees that are required by the state of Illinois.
The first thing that you will need to do to incorporate your business in Illinois yourself is to go to the Illinois Department of State website, which is http://business.illinois.gov/default.cfm. Here you will want to download the forms that you need for a corporation, non-profit corporations require different forms so be sure you get the right ones. You can also call the Secretary of State’s office at (217) 782-6961 to have the forms mailed to you.
The second thing you will need to do is to choose a name for your corporation. Once you have decided on a name you will want to use the “Electronic Corporate name Database” link on the state’s website to search for the current corporations in Illinois. Your corporation cannot have the same name or a similar name as any other corporation that is already in business in the state. Once you have done this you will need to reserve your corporation’s name, which is going to require a small fee. Reserving your business name is not required, but is a good idea to ensure that nobody else can use that name either.
The third thing that you will have to do is fill out the articles of incorporation and file them with the Secretary of State’s office. The articles of incorporation will contain the basic information that you need to start your business, such as the name of your corporation, the names of the directors, how much stock you plan on issuing, if you will be issuing a registered stock certificate or if you will issue a bearer stock certificate, among many other things. The articles of incorporation will also contain your corporation’s bylaws, which are what will govern your corporation, so it is important that you fill them out completely.
Once you are done filling out the articles of incorporation you will need to file them with Secretary of State’s office and pay the required filing fee. Once you have paid the filing fee, it can take up to six weeks for your business to become incorporated. Once the process has been completed and your business has been incorporated, you will receive a copy of your corporation’s article of incorporation in the mail. You will also receive a confirmation of your corporation’s registration and an employer identification number. If you plan to sell alcohol or firearms, you will need to obtain additional licenses to do business.
