Incorporation in Colorado

Find the right Business Incorporation attorney in Fort Collins, CO

Colorado law allows a business to incorporate and be identified as its own legal entity. After incorporation, buying and selling property, agreeing to contracts and exercising legal rights are considered acts of the business itself and not its owners. A business looking to incorporate in Colorado must file with the Secretary of State in accordance with established guidelines.

Benefits of Incorporation in Colorado

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. Also, creditors in the Fort Collins area usually prefer to deal with corporations, since a loan is an investment more easily evaluated when the credit-worthiness of various owners is not an issue. Lastly, ownership of a corporation is divided into equal portions or "shares" of stock, which may be bought and sold much more easily than the ownership of an unincorporated business.

Costs of Incorporation

Incorporation comes at a price. First, Colorado might charge a filing fee to process applications for incorporation. Also, the corporation will pay taxes as its own entity. The individual incomes of owners who are paid disbursements from the corporation's earnings are still taxed as well. This is called double taxation, but it may be avoided with proper planning and assistance from a local Fort Collins lawyer.

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Life in Fort Collins

Fort Collins is a medium-sized city. It is a home-rule municipality, meaning that it is not part of any county, and the state of Colorado has delegated some of its authority to the city, which the city can exercise within its own borders. It has a population of about 137,000. Fort Collins is generally known as a college town, being home to Colorado State University. The city of Fort Collins frequently ranks near the top of Money Magazine's list of best places in the U.S. to live. Because of the large college-aged demographic, Fort Collins has a thriving music and art scene, as well as a large number of well-regarded microbreweries. Fort Collins has a healthy and diverse economy, with major employers such as Colorado State University, Hewlett Packard, AMD, Wal-Mart, and many others providing thousands of public and private-sector jobs, in a wide variety of fields. Given its size, diversity, and vitality, it should come as no surprise that, with all the business that's done in Fort Collins, there are sometimes legal issues. For that reason, it shouldn't be a surprise that there are many Fort Collins, Colorado lawyers who are very skilled. If you're facing a legal issue, a Fort Collins, Colorado lawyer can help.

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