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Steps to Forming an Ohio Corporation

Information We Need From You to Start Your Corporation

1: Select a Name: Your company name must end with either the word of the abbreviation Company, Co., Corporation, Corp., Incorporated or Inc. 

2: Authorize Shares: Corporations are owned by their shareholders. A shareholder is someone who owns shares of stock in a corporation. Ohio requires you to designate how much stock you are initially authorizing. Most often, you would authorize a small number of shares, say 100. You would issue 51% of those shares to yourself at the first shareholders meeting, giving you control of the company. The remaining 49% can be saved for future business partners.

Ohio also asks for the class of shares and their par value. Most corporations issue only common stock. Par value is not the actual value, but rather the lowest price for which the stock can be sold.

3: Choose Management: A corporation is run by its Directors. The Directors are responsible for managing the corporation’s affairs, setting salaries and bonuses, issuing stock, and appointing the corporate officers. Typically, you would appoint yourself the sole Director and take on the roles of the corporate officers (President, Treasurer, Secretary).

4: Remaining Info Needed to File:

  • Principal office location: the city and county of the business office within Ohio where your financial books and company records are kept.

  • Effective date: if you want the legal existence of your corporation to begin on a date later than your filing date, you can specify a future day (no more than 90 days after filing).

  • Initial stated capital: the combined value of your shareholders’ initial contributions, including monetary capital, assets, and services.

  • Statutory Agent: legal Ohio statutory agents (also known as registered agents) must have a physical street address within the state (called a registered office). This cannot be a PO box. All of our Speedy filings come with one free year of Ohio statutory agent service by Northwest Registered Agent. This service keeps your private home and office addresses off the public record and fulfills your statutory agent, mailing and principal office requirements.

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Steps to Forming an Ohio LLC

Information We Need From You to Start Your LLC

1: Select a Name: Your company name must include one of the following: Limited Liability Company, Limited, Ltd, Ltd., LLC or L.L.C. If you want to know if your company’s name is currently available, you can perform an Ohio business name search.

2: Membership: LLCs are owned by their members. Instead of receiving shares of stock as they would in a corporation, each member is assigned an ownership percentage. Each member’s percentage is usually, though not always, in direct proportion to the amount they have invested in the company.

3: Choose Management: LLCs are typically managed by their members. There is no board of directors and no corporate officers. Members generally make major policy decisions while also being involved in the daily operations of the company. In some cases, an LLC will appoint a manager to run the business. Managers can be either members or outside parties. 

4: Remaining Info Needed to File:

  • Effective date: if you want your company’s first legal day of existence to be later than your filing date, you can specify a different day (no more than 90 days after filing).

  • Period of existence: if you want your LLC to be dissolved at a specific day and time, you can specify when, otherwise your company’s existence is considered perpetual.

  • Purpose: the lawful business your LLC intends to pursue.

  • Statutory Agent: legal statutory agents must maintain a physical street address within the state. This is called a registered office (cannot be a PO box). All of our Speedy filings come with one free year of Ohio statutory agent service. This free service keeps your private home and office addresses out of the public record and fulfills your statutory agent, mailing and principal office requirements.

Form Your LLC Here Online

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