Do-It-Yourself Minnesota S Corporation Kit

Forming an S corporation can save you thousands of dollars in income and payroll taxes, and it's actually quite easy. All it involves is filling out a few forms. You don't need to pay an attorney or accountant hundreds of dollars to do it...

Step One:

The first step in setting up your own Minnesota S corporation is forming an eligible entity. The eligible entity is the base for your S corporation. In most cases, your eligible entity will be either a limited liability company or a regular corporation. To set up an LLC in Minnesota, you fill out an Articles of Organization form and submit it to the Secretary of State in St. Paul. For a corporation, you fill out and submit an Articles of Incorporation form.

Step Two:

After you form your eligible entity, you need to get an Employer Identification Number (or EIN) from the IRS. An EIN is like a Social Security Number for businesses. To get your EIN, you fill out an SS-4 form, and submit it to the IRS. This form can be found on the IRS website.

Step Three:

Once you receive you EIN number, you can make the election to be treated as an S corporation. When you become an S corporation, you elect to have your business treated using the tax law described in Subchapter S of the tax code, hence the name. To make this election, you fill out a 2553 form, also available from the IRS website. Submit this form to the Internal Revenue Service Center in Ogden, Utah.

If you feel comfortable with this process, get started! If you would like some friendly guidance throughout the process, consider purchasing one of my easy, affordable do-it-yourself kits. I created two versions of my do-it-yourself S corporation kit: one kit for those who wish to use an LLC, and another for those who wish to use a traditional corporation.

Minnesota Option 1: Using an LLC

Most businesses should use a limited liability company to form their S corporation. With LLCs, you don't need to set up regular board meetings, or annual stockholder's meetings, so they are easier to maintain than a regular corporation.

My do-it-yourself kit gives clear, detailed instructions to guide you through the process of setting up an S corporation, as well as examples of completed forms for reference. Additionally, I include two sets of sample operating agreements, which you can use for your LLC. One set is for single-member LLCs (LLCs with a single owner) and the other set of operating agreements is for multiple-member LLCs (multiple owner LLCs).

Minnesota Option 2: Using a Traditional Corporation

There are situations where setting up a corporation may be a better option for your business than an LLC, so I created a do-it-yourself S corporation kit for regular corporations as well.

This kit also gives detailed steps to walk you through setting up your own S corporation along with examples of the completed forms. As a bonus, I include a set of sample corporate bylaws, which you or your attorney can use as a starting point for drafting up your own set of corporate bylaws.