In lay terms, a distribution is another way of saying a payment to a shareholder, partner or member of the business’s profit. Typically the distribution is in the form of cash, but sometimes it’s in the form of property like an asset. What you receive typically depends on your percentage interest in the business. So [...]
A CEO is the Chief Executive Officer. This is the person responsible for over-seeing all of the day-to-day activities of the corporation. Sometimes LLCs have CEOs. The CEO is the face of the company, and so larger businesses tend to hire a CEO that has appeal to the public to encourage investment in the business, or to attract new customers. The CEO, when it comes to extraordinary decisions, seeks and takes direction from the board of directors. The CEO can be, but need not be, a shareholder.
The Chief Financial Officer, also sometimes known as the treasurer, handles the financial aspects of the corporation or LLC. In larger businesses, the CFO becomes an advisor to the CEO, conferring on best approaches for increasing business or investment. In a very small business, the CEO and CFO are frequently the same person, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
It depends. A vice president in your corporation (or LLC) is tasked with acting on behalf of the CEO or President of the entity. This could come in handy if you, presumably being the CEO, aren’t available to sign a particular emergent contract. In your absence, the VP would act on your behalf with all [...]
Strictly speaking, every California corporation is required to have a CEO. So the real question is whether your corporation should also have a President. The President of a corporation is typically tasked with general supervision, direction and control of the business and officers of the corporation. Practically, though, where there’s already a CEO, the President might be [...]
Corporations under most state laws, including California, require that the shareholders and the board of directors of a corporation hold an annual meeting. Some LLC statutes require it as well, though not in California. Those meetings are opportunities to vote on annual issues, like elections of officers and review of last year’s financials. In very small businesses, these meetings may be memorialized by consents . . . you don’t have to hold an actual meeting with yourself (unless that’s your thing and you’re looking for a “legit” reason to deduct a trip to Hawaii for a shareholder’s meeting – that won’t really work, by the way).
In very lay terms, a K-1 is the partnership equivalent of an employee’s W-2 or a contractor’s 1099. Because a partnership doesn’t generally pay taxes of its own, it issues a form to each of its partners, telling the partners what each of them needs to put on his/her/its own tax return. LLCs taxed as a partnership (the default for multiple-member LLCs) issue K-1s. For more on forming partnerships, here's an article. Or, if you prefer to be entertained, here's a video.
Typically an LLC enters into its contracts by and through its authorized representatives. For an LLC, that’s going to be its Manager, or one of its Managers if it has more than one. However, if the LLC has chosen to walk and talk like a corporation, it’s going to be the LLC’s CEO, President, Vice [...]
Well, if I was your mother, I’d say yes, that’s very complicated, and please just pay him for services rendered. But, as your lawyer, adding him is not that complicated. However, the result is that you’ve now turned what was essentially a sole proprietorship into a partnership, requiring tax returns, fiduciary duties, and ideally, a written partnership agreement for when you want to show your boyfriend the door.
Nope. There are some pretty strict rules on what you get to name your corporation. Most of those rules can be found in a document regularly updated by the Secretary of State (in California) -- click here to take a look. For example, a corporation need not have "Inc." at the end of its name, but an LLC needs to have "LLC", or "limited liability company", after its name. And here's a new one, even on me: The word "Holding" or "Holdings" is considered to be a "dropped" word in a corporate name, i.e., it's ignored for purposes of figuring out if your name matches one already taken. For example, Herzog Wonderful Legal, Inc. is the same as Herzog Wonderful Legal Holding, Inc.
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