You don't need to hire a lawyer and you don't need annual reports. I did mine through legal zoom. Initially they were charging me an annual fee and I found it was some optional BS that you only need to pay if you don't live in the state you're incorporating in.
TTLKurtis wrote:
You don't need to hire a lawyer and you don't need annual reports. I did mine through legal zoom. Initially they were charging me an annual fee and I found it was some optional BS that you only need to pay if you don't live in the state you're incorporating in.
My attorney is handling everything plus creating my "book" for me while I'm on vacation for two weeks. I don't mind spending the money to make sure it's done right.
A good liability insurance policy should protect most any wedding photographer well enough ($1mil/$2mil coverage is $300ish per year). That said, an LLC can have tax benefits. The more you make, the more you can potentially save. I believe the "break even" point given all of the fees is about $50k year in profit. YMMV.
deepbluejh wrote:
A good liability insurance policy should protect most any wedding photographer well enough ($1mil/$2mil coverage is $300ish per year). That said, an LLC can have tax benefits. The more you make, the more you can potentially save. I believe the "break even" point given all of the fees is about $50k year in profit. YMMV.
Not really. I could lose my home, 401k, savings etc if something really bad happened. A couple mil in insurance may not be enough.
TTLKurtis wrote:
By book do you mean like the big binder I got from legalzoom? It's not complicated like a wedding contract :P
That plus my nifty seal stamper thingy!
jcolman wrote:
Not really. I could lose my home, 401k, savings etc if something really bad happened. A couple mil in insurance may not be enough.
Absolutely you have to have something like an LLC to separate yourself from your business (I'm surprised you're just now doing this actually). Regardless of whatever insurance you have, you don't want to be able to be personally sued.
I filed the forms myself on my State's web site for around $50. I have since consulted with an attorney, and if you have multiple members of the LLC you need an operating agreement which makes it more complicated. Otherwise it's pretty straight forward to file a single member LLC yourself. It's a good idea to get advice on how to run things to be sure you don't "pierce the corporate veil".
You MUST have your biz and your personal self separated with an LLC, S-corp, or something like that. It is just too big of a risk to not do it...even with insurance. You could lose everything...and them some...if you don't.
Jim, Hold off with the attorney or legal zoom stuff and do some looking on your states website for forming an LLC. For a simple LLC here in Arkansas it took me about 30 minutes to fill out the forms on line and cost less than $50 to file everything with the state. Very simple!
g-money wrote:
Jim, Hold off with the attorney or legal zoom stuff and do some looking on your states website for forming an LLC. For a simple LLC here in Arkansas it took me about 30 minutes to fill out the forms on line and cost less than $50 to file everything with the state. Very simple!
Greg
Thanks Greg. I did look it over but I already went the lawyer route. She's also doing some other legal work for me so I just bundled everything together.
I switched to an LLC earlier this year, legalzoom was incredibly simple. I'm not sure why I had to buy an "registered agent subscription" though for $150 a year. They say it's nice to have? Anyone else get that?
