opening a business

[pickle311]

I'm looking into buying an established online business, anyone have any idea what I would have to do to register the business in Texas? Can someone please poing me in the right direction, I have no idea and have never owned a business before so I'm lost on the legal aspects.
Thanks

[Polkster13]

Get a lawyer.

To setup a business you will need to get a Texas Tax ID number. Even if you sell online, if the customer's address that you are shipping to resides inside the borders of the State of Texas, that person has to pay sales tax at the rate from where you are making the shipment. So if you live in Cedar Park, you will collect City and State sales tax for Cedar Park. You will also have to register a "dba" or "Doing Business As" name with the State registar. This is located in Austin off of the old Airport Blvd near US 290. The cost is around 16 dollars depending on the number of names (shareholders or representatives) listed on the form and whether or not you want a notorized copy.

You will also need to determine if you want to incorporate or not. If you do, you will need to decide if this is an "S" type corporation or not. If you go that route you will need to set all of that up first before doing the other steps. This will cost between 350 and 450 dollars.

You will also have to get a local business licence. Each City does it differently so contact someone at your city hall and get the exact requirements.

If you are buying an established business and they have done all of these steps, then you will have to find out if it is incorporated or not. If it is, there will be a lot of paper work to do to get the business transferred over to you. If it isn't and ou are going to keep the same name, you will need to contact the State and Federal Governments and let them know that the address and telephone numbers are changing. On the Texas Sales Tax permit, there is a place to fill in this information and then you mail it in.

Either way, get a good lawyer so they can check and make sure there are no incumberences or liens against the company. Are there any outstanding warranties and will you have to fullfill them? Does the company have any outstanding litigation against it? Any outstanding debts that you will now be held liable?

Did I mention, Get a lawyer? If not, then I would recommend that you get a lawyer!

[pickle311]

haha, thanks, you know any good lawyers?

[alexwolf]

is there such a thing? :wacko

[Polkster13]

Did you hear that the Association for Medical Science has petitioned the FDA to use lawyers in their medical experiments instead of white mice?

Gave two reasons:

1. There are now more lawyers than there are white mice.

2. The white mice have started refusing to do certain things.

Pa damb bumph. (my impersonation of a drummer...)

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

I said get a lawyer. I didn't say the lawyer had to be good, but they should be good at what they do. And no, I don't know any lawyers, good or bad.

PS. I started my company from scratch and my wife and I are the only shareholders. This is my second corporation so I didn't need a lawyer this time. Maybe someone else on our site can recommend someone to you.

[blueboy]

what's the difference between a dead lawyer in the road, and a dead skunk in the road?.....in front of the skunk there are skid-marks. what do you call a dozen lawyers on the bottom of the ocean?....a pretty good start! LOL, JK, anyone here a lawyer? hope not

[pilot_bell777]

Best thing to do is:

Register two business names first.....and get a DBA (Doing Business As) form/number for both.
Then PAY the extra money (like $200 or so) to get it INCed. (only the one that will actually do sell something
Now buy everything and register everything under the one that is still DBA and not selling anything.
Lease everything and anything back to the other company that is selling things.
This helps you in multiple ways.
1) You get tax right offs on both and the inc one get more for depresiation of assets.
2) It protects you because if someone sues you, the company being sued ownes nothing, so they can't get anything
3) If you have to declare bankruptcy, it doesn't hurt YOUR credit and you aren't forced to liquidate any assests becuase the company doesn't own anything.
Now that you have the two companies setup; you will need to find an accountant and an attorney.
(KEEP EVERY RECEIPT FOR EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING even if you didn't really buy it for either company; your accountant can figure out the rest.)
4) If you want to go on line, register your domain name, setup your web site, etc.....
---put the credit card processing gateway in the name of the INCed company though (liablility reasons)
5) Begin advertising and selling your products/services!
6) have a business account for both companies. pay the DBA company a monthly fee for the leasing of all items, etc.....
7) Do it right and you can show 5 years of loss while still making money! Tax Deductions (accountant's problem again! LOL)

and the most important thing of all!......Hire me to build your website! LOL no serously.....we can setup a e-commerce store with real time credit card processing and shipment tracking, etc, etc, etc....what ever you want or need it to do!

What do you have in mind to do? sell/service????? Just Courous...... Spend the majority in the begining on good advertising though!

The best tip of all though is research EVERYTHING!!!!!!! Good luck and wish you the best.

[pickle311]

thanks for the info, it's really helpful, I'm actually looking at buying www.diyreef.com

[pilot_bell777]

It's looks to already be a Limited Liability Corp......get an attorney! lots of legal stuff.

If you have any internet questions, let me know!