must a corporation or organization incorporate in the state in which it intends transact business in order to have legal autho

As a general rule, you should register in the state where you will do all or most of your business. If you decide to incorporate or organize in another state you may need to qualify the foreign entity in your current state. Generally, a “foreign” entity must qualify its entity in another state if it is “doing business” in that state. What is defined as doing business is primarily an issue of state statute. Your business may not have to qualify given that it sounds like it is doing business in interstate commerce which is often an exception to qualification. This, again, will depend on a close review of your business and the applicable state statutes.

You should speak with a local attorney regarding your issue. Contact people you know and trust for referrals. If you have no referrals, contact your local bar association for their referral program. Good luck.

DISCLAIMER—This answer is for informational purposes only and discusses general legal principles, trends, and considerations and is not intended as specific legal advice regarding your question. This answer does not establish an attorney client relationship. For legal advice, you should retain legal counsel in your state for advice regarding your specific circumstances.

I made a slight mistake. Ignore the discussion on interstate business from my last post as that was from a prior question. Again, it is a good idea to talk to an attorney on your business. Good luck.

DISCLAIMER—This answer is for informational purposes only and discusses general legal principles, trends, and considerations and is not intended as specific legal advice regarding your question. This answer does not establish an attorney client relationship. For legal advice, you should retain legal counsel in your state for advice regarding your specific circumstances.

Not necessarily, but corporate questions depend heavily on the laws in your particular state. Do check with a local lawyer; answering the question of organization type depends on a lot of intricate facts, and getting the answer right can really pay off.

In general, unincorporated businesses can still act with legal authority, especially sole proprietorships. It does depend on the laws in your state. And if there are more people involved in the business, the default rules for which individuals get to exercise that authority get very hazy and complicated. So it's best to set up some kind of formal structure -- maybe a corporation, maybe something else -- that outlines those arrangements the way you want them, and in accordance with state law.

Beyond that -- as you probably know -- the various organization types available in your state offer various (sometimes major!) tax and liability-limitation benefits, even if you're in business alone. So business formation is usually a good candidate for checking with a lawyer in your state -- a return well worth the cost. There are a lot of intricacies related to who you're working with, what their different roles are, what your income/loss projections are like, etc., that play into making the best decision. And a corporate lawyer can walk you through what'll work best for your business.

Hope that helps!

Especially for something like this, the standard disclaimers apply: without entering into a confidential attorney-client relationship, lawyers can't give you legal advice on which you can rely. Laws vary by state, and their application depends on often-intricate details of the facts and circumstances. As such, this answer can be a description of certain general legal principles, but it's not legal advice. I hope it's helpful to point you in the right direction, but you shouldn't rely on it. And, especially in this public forum, it doesn't create a confidential attorney client relationship.

In general you are supposed to register as a foreign corporation, in reality many small corporations (Nevada especially) do not comply with the laws and get away with it.

No. But you should register as foreign corporation and be authorized to transact business in your state of domicile.