6
Failing to obtain professional tax advice.
No. 6 begets No. 5. Get your tax advice from a qualified and experienced tax attorney or CPA, not from your neighbor or the internet. Tax advice is specific to your particular personal and business situation, and general statements about tax preferences cannot be relied upon in individual cases.
7
Failing to complete (and obtain proof of) all your documents and filings.
Making all the right choices does not do you much good if all the documents and filings aren’t completed. It’s almost worse to complete all your documents and filings, but not to have proof of filing when the government loses it (it happens more than you think).
8
Failing to complete annual filings and minutes.
Incorporation duties do not end with the initial filings. Annual maintenance and proper business practices are necessary to keep your business entity in conformity with state and federal law.
9
Having a CPA form the corporation.
Forming a corporation is the practice of law. CPAs are trained in tax matters, but not in legal matters, and invariably there are one or more necessary legal documents that are not completed and/or filed. Would you hire an attorney with no tax training to file your corporate tax return?
10
Using a legal document center for the incorporation.
If using a CPA to form your corporation is bad, using a legal document center is far worse. I have had to repair innumerable corporations formed through one of these companies, and every single time the cost to correct the problems is more expensive than if I had been hired at the start to form the corporation.
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