Why form a Wisconsin Corporation?
There are many advantages to forming a Wisconsin corporation for your business. First and foremost is the liability protection of your personal assets. When you form a corporation it helps separate your personal assets from that of your business. A legal corporate entity exists separately from its owners or shareholders. Typically, shareholders are not liable for the debts and obligations of the corporation or from any litigation where the company is the defendant. In a partnership or sole proprietorship, the creditors can go after the owners personal assets if the company's assets are not enough to settle a claim.
Resolving a delinquent Wisconsin corporation
Wisconsin corporations become delinquent when the required Annual Report. To rectify this problem, the corporation will be responsible for filing the previous Annual Reports as well as a current Annual Report and all associated fees.
It the corporation stays delinquent, the corporation will be administratively dissolved.
Wisconsin Registered Agent
Wisconsin corporations are required to maintain a registered agent with a street address within the state of Wisconsin. This person/entity is required to receive official mail and service of process on behalf of the corporation. At any time, a corporation may change or modify the name or address of the registered agent by filing a "Change of Registered Agent and/or Registered Office" document with the state.
Tips for a good Corporation name
A Corporation’s name must include Corp, Inc, Incorporated, or Corporation at the end of its name. A Wisconsin corporation cannot have the same name as an existing Corporation, Limited Liability Company or a Limited Partnership. The name of the Corporation must be distinguishable from another entity on file or reserved.. To determine distinction, the Secretary of State will ignore the use of punctuation, prepositions and articles used in the company name. The Secretary of State will also ignore at its discretion the use of capitalization, spaces and plural forms of words or special characters. Also certain words will be regulated and prior approval may be needed in order to use the word in a corporate name. The restricted words in Wisconsin are “insurance” and “cooperative” and others.
How do I set up a company as a subchapter S corporation?
Once you have established your corporation according to your states requirements, you elect S corporation status for federal tax purposes by filing Form 2553 (PDF), Election by a Small Business Corporation. Several requirements must be met before you can elect S corporation status.
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