Steps to Forming a District of Columbia Corporation
Information We Need From You to Start Your Corporation
1: Select a Name: The name of your company must include one of the following: Corporation, Incorporated, Company, Limited, Corp., Inc., Co., or Ltd.
2: Authorize Shares: A corporation is owned by its shareholders, who own shares of stock in the company. The District of Columbia requires you to indicate the number of initial shares you are authorizing. Most often, a corporation authorizes only a small number of shares (100, for example). At the first shareholders meeting, you would then issue 51% of those shares to yourself, giving you control of the corporation. The remaining shares can be held for future business partners.
3: Choose Management: Corporations are managed by Directors. The Directors are responsible for establishing major company policy, issuing additional stock, setting salaries and bonuses, and appointing the corporate officers. Typically, you would assign yourself as sole Director and take on the various roles of the corporate officers (President, Secretary, Treasurer).
4: Remaining Info Needed to File:
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Registered Agent: a legal registered agent must maintain a physical street address in DC. This is called a registered office (no PO boxes). All of our Speedy filings come with one free year of District of Columbia registered agent service by Northwest Registered Agent. This service keeps your private home and office addresses out of the public record and fulfills your registered agent, mailing and principal office requirements.
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Purpose: the lawful business your corporation intends to pursue (optional).
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Directors: the names and addresses of your initial directors (optional).
Form Your Corporation Here Online
Steps to Forming a District of Columbia LLC
Information We Need From You to Start Your LLC
1: Select a Name: The name of your company must contain: Limited Liability Company, Limited Company, L.L.C., LLC, L.C., or LC. If you want to know if your company name is available or not, you can do a District of Columbia business name search (you must create a log-in account).
2: Membership: The owners of an LLC are known as members. Unlike a corporation, LLCs do not issue shares of stock to their owners. Members receive instead an ownership percentage. Each percentage is generally (though not always) in direct proportion to the amount each member has invested into the company.
3: Choose Management: An LLC is usually managed by its members. The members set the major company policies and take part in the day to day activities of the LLC. However, an LLC can also choose to appoint a manager to run the business. Managers can be members, or they can be outside parties.
4: Remaining Info Needed to File:
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Principal office: the physical street address of the business office where your company books and financial records are kept.
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Registered Agent: registered agents must maintain a physical street address within the District of Columbia. This is known as a registered office, and it cannot be a PO box. All of our Speedy filings come with one free year of District of Columbia registered agent service. This free service keeps your private home and office addresses off the public record and fulfills your registered agent, mailing and principal office requirements.
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Date of membership: the date upon which a person or persons becomes the company’s initial member or members.
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Effective date: the official legal formation date of your LLC.
Form Your LLC Here Online
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