Do-it-yourself Indiana S Corporation Kit

Here's a bit of good news for business owners: S corporations can save a business thousands of dollars a year in payroll and income taxes. And what's even better? Most business owners can set up an S corporation without help from a C.P.A. or lawyer, because S corporation set-up takes just a few simple steps:

Step One: Form an LLC or a Corporation

To set up an S corporation, you will need an eligible entity. Usually, this is either a limited liability company or a traditional corporation, although other options exist. The Indiana Secretary of State website provides a "Business Startup Toolkit" that guides a potential business owner through the steps of forming an eligible entity. The state website also provides downloadable forms.

Tip: If you want to form an LLC, download, fill out and submit an Articles of Organization form to the Secretary of State Office. If you choose to form a regular corporation, download and complete an Articles of Incorporation form.

Step Two: Apply for an EIN

After you establish your LLC or corporation, you apply for an Employer Identification Number with the IRS. These numbers function like Social Security Numbers for businesses.

To apply, you just fill out an SS-4 form and submit it to the IRS. The IRS provides a free, downloadable version of the SS-4 form on its website.

Step Three: Make the S Corporation Election

Once you receive your EIN from the IRS, you can make the election to have your business treated as an S corporation. This means that you want to use the laws in Subchapter S of the tax code to determine how your business income should be taxed. To make this election, you will need to fill out a 2553 form, and submit it to the Internal Revenue Service Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

If you don't feel totally confident in this process after reading these brief instructions, consider downloading one of my affordable S corporation kits. I've created two versions of my do-it-yourself kit: one for businesses using an LLC, and another for businesses using a regular corporation.

Indiana Kit Version 1: Using an LLC

This kit provides detailed instructions for businesses that choose an LLC as the base for their S corporation. It also provides an analysis of the benefits and drawbacks of LLC formation in Indiana, and comes with completed examples of all the forms you will need to fill out for reference. Additionally, I included two sample operating agreements to further assist your business: one set if for single member LLCs and another for multiple member LLCs.

Indiana Kit Version 2: Using a Corporation

The regular corporation version of the S corporation kit details the steps for setting up an S corporation in Indiana using a traditional corporation as the base. Like the LLC version, it comes with completed examples of all the forms involved in set-up. It also weighs the positive and negative aspects of incorporation in Indiana, and discusses how to balance them. As an additional bonus, the kit comes with a set of sample corporate bylaws, which can be used to aide you or your attorney when crafting your own corporate bylaws.