Steps to Forming a West Virginia Corporation
Information We Need From You to Start Your Corporation
1: Select a Name: Your company name must include one of the following terms or their abbreviations: Corporation, Company, Incorporated, or Limited.
2: Authorize Shares: Corporations are owned by their shareholders. A shareholder owns shares of stock in the company. West Virginia requires you to indicate the number of initial shares of stock you intend to authorize, as well as their par value. Typically, a corporation authorizes only a small number of shares, say 100. At the first shareholders meeting, you would then issue 51% of those shares to yourself, giving you control of the company. The par value of the stock is not the actual value, but rather the lowest price at which the stock can be sold.
3: Choose Management: Corporations are managed by their Directors. Directors are in charge of setting company policy, issuing additional stock, appointing the corporate officers (President, Treasurer, Secretary) and establishing salaries and bonuses. In most cases, you would simply appoint yourself the sole Director and take on the roles of the various corporate officers.
4: Remaining Info Needed to File:
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Principal office address: the physical street address (including county) of the business office where your corporate records and financial books are kept.
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Physical office in West Virginia: the physical street address of the principal place of business within the state of West Virginia, if any.
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Agent of process: a legal agent of process must have a physical street address within the state, known as a registered office (cannot be a PO box). All of our Speedy filings come with one free year of West Virginia agent of process service by Northwest Registered Agent. This service keeps your private home and office addresses out of the public record and fulfills your agent of process, mailing and principal office requirements.
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Email: the email address where business correspondence may be received.
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Purpose: the lawful activity your corporation intends to conduct.
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Land: the number of acres of land your corporation holds or expects to hold within the state of West Virginia.
Form Your Corporation Here Online
Steps to Forming a West Virginia LLC
Information We Need From You to Start Your LLC
1: Select a Name: Your company name must contain one of the following designations: Limited Liability Company, Limited Company, L.L.C., LLC, L.C., or LC. The word “Limited” may be abbreviated as “Ltd.” The word “Company” may be abbreviated as “Co.” If you want to see if your company name is currently available, you can do a West Virginia business name search.
2: Membership: LLCs are owned by their members. Unlike corporations, LLCs do not issue shares of stock to their owners. Instead, LLC members receive an ownership percentage, which is usually (though not always) based upon the amount each member has invested into the company.
3: Choose Management: An LLC is usually managed by its members. The members set the company policy and also partake in the day to day business activities. However, an LLC can also opt to appoint a manager to oversee the company. In that case, a manager may be either a member or an outside party.
4: Remaining Info Needed to File:
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Designated office in West Virginia: the physical street address (including county) of the main business office within the state, if any.
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Principal office: the physical street address (with county) of the business office where your company records and financial books are kept.
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Agent of process: legal agents of process must maintain a physical street address within the state, known as a registered office. This cannot be a PO box. All of our Speedy filings come with one free year of West Virginia agent of process service. This free service keeps your private home and office addresses out of the public record and fulfills your agent of process, mailing and principal office requirements.
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Email: the email address where business correspondence may be received.
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At-will or term: if you want your LLC to be dissolved after a set number of years, you may indicate a period of years for existence, known as a term. Otherwise, your LLC is considered at-will and its existence perpetual.
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Management: whether your LLC is managed by its members or by managers.
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Members/Managers: the names and addresses of either your LLCs members or its managers.
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Liability: whether or not your members will be held responsible for the debts and obligations of your company.
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Purpose: the lawful business your LLC intends to perform.
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Effective date: if you want the legal date of your LLC’s formation to be later than your filing date, you can indicate a future day and time.
Form Your LLC Here Online
Testimonials
“Your site is great!!! It’s the best business startup site on the Web!! This was a huge step for me and you really helped me alot.” – Jim B., Charleston, West Virginia
“I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I am that I chose you to do my incorporation. Thanks for your help and for being so patient with my questions.” – Mick R., Bluefield, West Virginia
