Going offshore for incorporating businesses has its advantages and disadvantages. If all your deals are overboard and in black and white, offshore company incorporation can provide you with certain advantages over forming a corporation domestically. The main advantages are that the offshore location may have low tax regimes or tax exemptions and ease of operation. You may not be required to file your annual returns and can maintain complete confidentiality of operations. In some locations the cost of operations when compared to your home state may be substantially low. Beware, offshore company information does not provide you with a license to indulge in your fancies. International community is putting enormous pressure on these tax havens to institute more restraints on their corporates to control narcotic drug money and international terrorism.
Forming a corporation domestically is not that difficult or complicated. State statutes govern the formation and operation of corporations. Your first step to know how to form a corporation is to get in touch with the state agency handling business registrations. Usually business registrations are handled by the Secretary of State or Corporation Commissioner’s offices. As most states are actively encouraging new business formations in their territory, you can be sure of a high degree of co-operation from the state authorities for forming a corporation. The basic requirements are, you have to file the Articles of Incorporation of your corporation with the state and pay a fee for filing. Drafting and adopting bylaws for the organizational and operational functionalities is imperative in forming a corporation and operating it.
You must have a name for your corporation to operate under. It could by your name or a fictitious name for your corporation to Do Business As. The name you choose cannot be identical or similar to that of a business in existence. Using an existing name may land you in trouble, end up being prosecuted under the Intellectual Property laws and made to pay damages. You can search for an available name in the state business registry and other databases available. Business.Gov, the official business link to US Government website suggests that you search in multiple data bases to check name availability. The Thomas business register is supposed to be an exhaustive source. National Business Register is compiled by the US Census Bureau to provide a comprehensive database of US business establishments and companies for statistical program use. United States Patent and Trademarks office has a database of all federally registered trademarks.
