Under Oregon law, a business may incorporate. If it chooses to do so, it is thereafter identified as its own legal entity. This means that the business can buy or sell property, offer and accept contracts and exercise legal rights in its own name. The Oregon Secretary of State receives and processes applications for incorporation, which must be submitted in compliance with local guidelines.

Benefits of Incorporation in Oregon

Benefits of incorporation are many. The primary benefit is that the liabilities of the business can only be satisfied by the assets specifically invested into the company by the owners. 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. Furthermore, banks in the Milton Freewater area prefer to evaluate the credit worthiness of a business as a whole rather than that of individual owners. This makes the process of getting corporate loans simpler. Finally, a corporation's ownership stake is divided into equal slices or "shares" of stock, which make investments in the business much easier to transfer.

Costs of Incorporation

Incorporation comes at a price. First, Oregon might charge a filing fee to process applications for incorporation. Also, the corporation will pay taxes 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 Milton Freewater lawyer, you can avoid this disadvantage.