Business Planning and Development Checklist
This checklist will help you prepare for your first business development meeting with us. Review the following and have at hand as much of this information about your business as possible so we can begin planning for your business success:
1. Know your company name, type (e.g., Stock, LLC, etc.), and the primary state in which you'll be registering it. If you plan to do business in other states, know what states you're planning to expand to.
2. If you know how, look into the availability of your chosen company name—if "your" company has been registered already by someone else, you'll need to come up with a new name.
3. If you intend to do business under a different name (using a DBA), decide on what name you'd like to use.
4. Know your company's physical address, mailing address, phone number, as well as website address (URL), and email address (if available).
5. Outline the company's purpose and the type of business it will conduct.
6. Decide the date on which you intend to hold your annual meeting.
7. Decide whether you want the effective date of your business to be at the time of filing or at a specific date.
8. Depending on which type of company you have, you'll need to provide certain information:
☐stock and professional corporations will need to provide a list of initial directors and their addresses, as well as the number of shares to be issued;
☐non-stock corporations will need to confirm membership (if any) and its classes, class qualifications, and class rights, members' voting rights (if any), and how directors will be selected;
☐limited liability companies (LLCs) will need to provide a management structure plus the names, addresses, initial capital contributions, and ownership interest percentage;
☐limited liability partnerships will need to provide a list of general partners, their addresses, and their SCC numbers (if issued);
☐business trusts will need to provide a list of names and addresses of trustees.
9. If you intend to apply for tax-exempt status, be prepared to fill out the tax-exempt section of our client business planning form. Bring information pertaining to:
☐your tax-exempt purpose;
☐EIN (if you have one);
☐pertinent activities to date;
☐future activities planned;
☐names, titles, addresses, and compensation of all officers, directors, and trustees;
☐names, titles, addresses, and compensation of the five highest employees;
☐names, titles, addresses, and compensation of the five highest contractors making over $50,000 annually;
☐names, qualifications, hours worked, and duties for all officers, directors, trustees, highest compensated employees, and independent contractors;
☐programs (goods, services, funds) connected to your tax-exempt purpose;
☐at least five years of financial data to apply for tax exemption (or, for new businesses, the current year plus projections for the next four years).