Arkansas law allows a business to incorporate and be identified as its own legal entity. As a separate entity from the owners, the business is then considered to be operating on its own when it buys and sells property, assents to contracts and exercises legal rights. A business looking to incorporate in Arkansas must file with the Secretary of State in accordance with established guidelines.

Benefits of Incorporation in Arkansas

An incorporated business enjoys certain advantages, the most important being a limit of liability for the shareholders. The most shareholders can lose is the amount they invest in the business. Had the business remained unincorporated, owners risk losing their personal property should the business become unable to satisfy its liabilities. A corporation also allows creditors in the Russellville area to assess the credit worthiness of the business as a whole rather than that of its owners, allowing the business to get loans more easily. Finally, the ownership stake in a corporation can be apportioned into uniform slices, known as "shares" of stock. This makes it possible to sell ownership investments in more manageable slices.

Costs of Incorporation

Along with a possible fee to apply for incorporation in Arkansas, there are other costs that corporations incur. The most important is that a corporation is taxed as its own entity. Disbursements to the owners of the corporation are also taxed as individual income, so this means earnings might be taxed twice. But this double taxation can be avoided with proper planning and help from a local Russellville lawyer.