In Kansas, businesses are allowed to incorporate, thereby becoming their own legal entities. After incorporation, buying and selling property, agreeing to contracts and exercising legal rights are considered acts of the business itself and not its owners. To incorporate in Kansas, a business must file with the Secretary of State in compliance with specific guidelines.

Benefits of Incorporation in Kansas

There are distinct advantages to incorporating a business. Most importantly, liabilities the business accrues may be satisfied only by assets that the owners have specifically invested in it. If the business had remained a personal asset of the owners, they could run the risk of losing their personal property to pay for the company's financial liabilities in case of default. Also, creditors in the Merriam area generally 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, the ownership of a corporation is divided into an abundance of equal portions or "shares" of stock. Without this mechanism, transferring ownership of a business would be impractical.

Costs of Incorporation

Along with a possible fee to apply for incorporation in Kansas, there are other costs that corporations incur. The most important is that a corporation is taxed as its own entity. The individual incomes of the owners are still taxed also, and this can mean the same income is taxed twice, known as double taxation. With proper planning and assistance from a local Merriam lawyer, you can avoid this disadvantage.