Business Formation

The corporation is owned by the shareholders. A corporation may have one or more shareholders. Generally, since the shareholders elect the persons who serve on the Board of Directors, the corporation is controlled by the shareholders. The shareholders who own more than 50% of the corporation's common stock get to make the ultimate decisions about running the corporation.

Generally, there are no restrictions on foreign ownership of a company formed in the U.S. The procedure for a foreign citizen to form a company in the United States is the same as for a U.S. resident.
It is not necessary to be a U.S. citizen or to have a green card to own a corporation or limited liability company formed in the United States.
To receive the pass through profit distributions, a foreign citizen may form a limited liability company.
In contrast, all profit distributions which are called dividends made by a C corporation are subject to "double taxation". under U.S. tax law as of 1/1/2001, a nonresident alien may own shares in a C corporation, but may not own any shares in an S corporation. For this reason, many foreign citizens form a limited liability company instead of a C corporation.
A foreign citizen may be a corporate officer and director, but may not work in the U.S. or receive a salary or compensation for services provided in the U.S. unless the foreign citizen has a work permit (either a green card or a special visa) issued by the U.S. Some work permits allow a foreign citizen to work only for a sponsoring employer.
Such work permits generally do not enable a foreign citizen to also work for a new, unrelated company formed by the foreign citizen. The foreign citizen would need to obtain a separate work permit to work for the new company.

A Nonprofit corporation is one that is formed not for financial gain. It is formed to carry out the goals of the organization. The process to form a "for profit" versus "nonprofit" corporation is similar but the text of the Articles of Incorporation is different. There are no owners in a nonprofit corporation. A nonprofit corporation is controlled by a board of directors. The profits of a nonprofit corporation may not be paid to the creators of the nonprofit entity, except that the creators may receive compensation for the fair market value of actual services provided to the nonprofit. Generally, a nonprofit corporation is exempt from federal income tax, except with respect to "unrelated" business income.

SIC stands for the Standard Industrial Classification Code. It is a four digit number assigned to identify a business based on the type of business or trade involved.
The first two digits correspond to major groups such as construction and manufacturing, while the last two digits correspond to subgroups such as constructing homes versus constructing highways.
A company can determine its SIC number by looking it up in a directory published by the Department of Commerce, or by checking in the SIC book in the reference section of a local library.
SBA size standards are based on SIC codes.

Although you purchased a sole proprietorship for 1 amount, that amount must be allocated to the individual assets for depreciation purposes.
Allocation is based on the proportion of the sales price to an individual assets fair market value at the time of the sale. Speak to your local CPA about the allocation formulas.

Sole Proprietors with business expenses less than $5,000, do not have a net loss from the business, use the cash method of accounting, do not have an inventory during the year, have only one business as a sole proprietor, have no employees during the year, are not required to file Depreciation Form 4562, are not required to file Office in Home Form 8829 and have no prior year unallowed passive losses, may use Schedule C-EZ.

All these terms refer to incorporated companies. A limited corporation or company is an incorporated business.

A limited partnership includes both general and limited partners. A limited partner is liable only to the extent of what he or she has contributed capital to the business. Limited partners are often investors that do not participate in the business decisions.

The corporate name you select must include a suffix.
It must be either spelled out or abbreviated. When you fill out the incorporation request, include your choice of Incorporated (INC), Corporation (CORP), Professional Association (PA), Professional Corporation (PC) or Limited Liability Company (LLC) / (LLP).