Do-it-yourself Alaska S Corporation Kit

Starting your own business can be overwhelming, but fortunately forming an S Corporation doesn't need to be one of the "overwhelming" parts.

You can set up an S corporation in Alaska by taking three, simple steps.

Step 1: Incorporate or Form an LLC

In order to end up with an S corporation, you first need to create either a corporation or a limited liability company. And, yes, you did just read that right: both corporations and LLCs can be treated as S corporations.

Tip: If this bit of information about both LLCs and corporations being able to elect Subchapter S status is news to you, you may want to do a bit more research about just what an S corporation even is... A great way to do that research is by reading the articles in my FAQ, available as a link near the top left corner of this page.

While setting up a corporation or LLC sounds difficult, it's not. All you do is fill out a simple form. And it gets even better...

The State of Alaska provides free forms you can easily grab at the Department of Commerce website. Depending on what type of platform you want for your S corporation, you need to fill out either the Articles of Organization form (for an LLC) or Articles of Incorporation form (for a corporation).

Step 2: Get a Taxpayer Identification Number

After you submit and the Alaska Secretary of State processes the Articles of Organization/Incorporation form, you take the next step: you need to get an Employer Identification Number for your new LLC or corporation.

To get one of these numbers, you have to fill out and submit an SS-4 form to the Internal Revenue Service, which can be found on the IRS website.

Step 3: Elect Subchapter S Status

As the third and final step in setting up an S corporation, you make the actual Subchapter S election. This election turns your LLC or corporation into a Subchapter S corporation. You should note, though, that if you make the Subchapter s election for an LLC, your company is still legally a limited liability company. The Subchapter S election, in other words, only changes the taxation of the business.

Summing up the situation, you don't need to pay an accountant, attorney or online incorporation service big bucks to fill out a few forms for you

If you would like more guidance through this process purchase and download one of our do-it-yourself kits. Our kits (we sell two versions) provide more detailed instructions on how to form an LLC or corporation, the taxpayer identification number application, and making the Subchapter S election. We sell two versions of our do-it-yourself kits:

Alaska Version 1: LLC Formation

Most businesses optimize by using an LLC for their S corporation. In almost every circumstance, LLCs are easier to "govern" and less administrative work than a regular corporation.

Our 20-page LLC version of the Alaska S corporation kit gives you everything you need to do this: steps for forming the LLC and obtaining the employer identification number, how to make the Subchapter S election, and examples of completed state and federal forms, so you know what yours should look like.

The LLC version of the Alaska S corporation kit also includes two sample LLC operating agreements, one for single member limited liability companies and one for multiple member limited liability companies.

Alaska Version 2: Regular Corporation Formation

Most small businesses build or should build an S corporation on top of an LLC platform. However, you can also use a regular corporation as the base for your S corporation. Accordingly, we also sell a 35-page do-it-yourself kit for incorporating in Alaska and making the Subchapter S election for the new corporation.

As a bonus, the regular-corporation version of the Alaska kit includes sample corporate bylaws, which you or your attorney can use as a starting point for creating your own, personalized corporation bylaws.