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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Hi Geoff and others. My husband (a graphic designer) and I
combined our businesses into one corporation. Our reasons for doing
this were to keep our business finances completely separate from personal and
to remove personal liability. (He does large scale corporate and
political advertising.) We incorporated together but have a dba (doing
business as) for each business. The dba’s are where our clients
write checks.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I believe my husband used an online service for incorporating
which reduces your costs but leaves you with a lot of work. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>The whole process has been pretty overwhelming. My husband
fell behind on the paperwork (he’s a creative spirit, bless his heart)
and I had to rescue the corporation. I’ve taken over all of the
bookkeeping except for our end of the year taxes which our CPA does. Quickbooks
helps me quite a bit because I subscribe to their payroll service. We’re
at the point of doing monthly payroll deposits and it sends me reminders and
then I e-file.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>If your business has become large enough to be concerned about
personal liability and income tax, then go for it but be aware of the amount of
self-education that is involved. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Best wishes!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Michelle Smith<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Smith Piano Service<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Bastrop, Texas<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Bookman Old Style","serif"'>SNIP</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Today's
questions are directed to those among you who have actually gone
through the process of starting a corporation and then converting it to an S
corporation.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>:
What, exactly, is the process?</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>:
Did you do it yourself, or did you hire an attorney? </span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>:
Changing from Sole Proprietor to Corporation, how do you cover the question of
stocks and board meetings?</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>:
What about creating a business "name" that ends in Inc., Corp., or
Ltd.? To whom do your tuning clients write their checks to?</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>I've
found all the forms. And even though there are only about three really basic
items being asked for on them, I find myself overwhelmed with questions
and procedures regarding the process of actually acquiring and/or
creating those items.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>So
I guess my only real question is: How did you do it?</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>--
Geoff Sykes, RPT</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>--
Los Angeles</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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