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Steps to Forming a Hawaii Corporation

Information We Need From You to Start Your Corporation

1: Select a Name: Your company name must include the word: Corporation, Incorporated, or Limited or the abbreviation Corp., Inc., or Ltd.

2: Authorize Shares: Corporations are owned by their shareholders, who own shares of stock in the company. Hawaii requires you to designate a number of initial authorized shares of stock. Generally, you would authorize a small number of shares (for example: 100) and then, at your first shareholders meeting, issue 51% of those shares to yourself to give you control of the corporation. The other 49% can be set aside for future business partners.

3: Choose Management: The management of a corporation is in the hands of its Directors. Directors control all company policy, the setting of salaries and bonuses, the issuing of stock, and the appointment of the corporate officers (President, Treasurer, Secretary). In most cases, you would simply designate yourself as the sole Director and take on the responsibilities of the corporate officers.

4: Remaining Info Needed to File:

  • Principal office address: you must supply the mailing address of your main business office.

  • Registered Agent: a legal Hawaii registered agent must maintain a physical street address within the state. This is known as a registered office and cannot be a PO box. With our Speedy filings, you receive one free year of Hawaii registered agent service by Northwest Registered Agent. This service keeps your private home and office addresses off the public record and fulfills the registered office, mailing and principal office requirements.

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Steps to Forming a Hawaii LLC

Information We Need From You to Start Your LLC

1: Select a Name: Your company name must contain the words Limited Liability Company or the abbreviation LLC or L.L.C. To see if your company name is available, you can perform a Hawaii business name search.

2: Membership: Unlike a corporation, an LLC does not issue shares of stock. Instead, the owners (known as members) are simply given an ownership percentage. The percentage is usually tied to the amount each member invests in the company.

3: Choose Management: The majority of LLCs are simply managed by their members, who divide up the responsibilities of overseeing the business. However, members can opt to appoint a manager to run the company. Managers can be either members or outside parties.

4: Remaining Info Needed to File:

  • Principal office address: the mailing address of your main business office.

  • Registered Agent: all registered agents in Hawaii are required to maintain a physical street address in the state, known as a registered office (no PO boxes). Our Speedy filings come with one free year of Hawaii registered agent service. This free service keeps your private home and office addresses off the public record while also fulfilling your registered agent, mailing and principal address requirements.

  • Period of duration: if you intend for your company to dissolve at a specific date in the future, you can designate it here.

  • Management: you must designate whether your LLC is managed by its members or by a manager. Hawaii also requires the names and addresses of either the managers or the members.

  • Liabilities: Hawaii requires you to select whether or not your members will be liable for the debts, obligations and liabilities of the company, or if they will be liable for specific debts, obligations and liabilities but not others.

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Testimonials

Thank you so much for helping me get my business incorporated. I always knew one day that I’d be a business owner. Thanks for helping me with the final step.” – Rick S., Kauai, Hawaii

Truly an outstanding service you provide. You were fast, helpful and answered my questions. Your website also provided a lot of useful information. Thanks.” – Kamelia N., Maui, Hawaii

I’ve worked for someone else all my life. No more. Now I am a business owner. Thanks for helping me finalize the process and make it official.” – Keoni S., Maui, Hawaii