Incorporating Online

Gomez · Sep 9, 2002

So it looks like I'm going to go ahead and incorporate. Has anyone out there used one of the online incorporating services?

The lawyer I spoke with said he could do it, but didn't see anything wrong with using one of the online systems.

Anonymous Poster · Sep 9, 2002

The dirty little secret Lawyers don't want youto know is that they all use one of a few services to incorporate new businesses.
In NY the lawyer either has an account with the service, or sends a check with his order, and the completed corporate set comes back from Albany in a week. Last time I checked, it cost around $450- to form a corp. in NY, with the set, corp seal and everything thrown in. All the rest goes into the lawyer's pocket, for filling out a few forms.
The good thing about using a lawyer, if the corp isn't set up properly, the lawyer shares liability with you. Tha bad thing may be the cost.

WVBill · Sep 9, 2002

I used one a couple of years ago when my wife and I owned a business. Did it work? Yeah - I guess so, I got papers and an ID number and all. We Incorporated in Delaware. - as I understand it, that's the least expensive place.

I can't recall which service we used. I'll see if I still have any of the papers in the files in the basement if you would like more info.

wasabi · Sep 9, 2002

If you already know what you want (C-corp, S-corp, LLC or what), doing it on-line or over the phone with a service is dead easy. I've used the Company Corporation with satisfactory results several times. Nothing to it really...at about a third of the cost of having it done by a local esquire.

Gomez · Sep 10, 2002

Thanks for the responses. I tried thrree different sites last night and for the costs vary quite a bit. The lowest price I found was $545 and the highest was close to $900 /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif. This was for expedited EIN and state filing, using the agency as the resgistrar, etc. One site had a $300 charge for running an announcement in two local papers for 6 weeks! I knew an annoucement was part of the package, but I thought it was a one day deal. I'd rather not have my current employer know about this until I have my ducks lined up.

WVBill · Sep 10, 2002

I remember now who I used. It was <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.corporate.com/>The Company Corporation</A>

$199 plus State Fee ($74 for Delaware) for the minimum package.