How many people have registered their businesses online?

Kelly,

When I started my online business, in order to get a merchant account and payment gateway, I had to have a Tax ID number. It was an F-EIN (Federal Employement Identification Number) I believe. Basically, you have to register your business with your state in order to get this number. Which also meant that I had to report my sales (on those that occured within the state of MO) to the IRS every quarter and pay sales tax on them...if there were any. (It is an online business so the sales are nationwide.)

I couldn't find any way around this and still be able to process major credit cards directly from my site. This was back before Google Checkout was around and still in the earlier days of Paypal. Now, one can always choose to use Google Checkout and Paypal exclusively and not bother with your own merchant account and gateway, but I think that limits your options in terms of methods of payment.

I would be interested to hear if anyone has any other alternatives to getting a payment gateway without registering the business.

Julia

I don't know that I registered with my state (Virginia) to get the FEIN. But it was 11 yrs ago, so I can't be sure. I think you can get an FEIN without registering with your State, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I pay $50/ yr to keep my LLC incorporated in VA.

I incorporated my LLC online using http://incorporatetime.com/ - they were not expensive (which worried me a little) but they were fast and efficient and delvered. So I have recommended them to several people.

Hope this helps!

Sian

Sian,

What advantages does incorporating your business provide?  How do I determine if it is something I should do?

I have been doing some research and you do not need to register with your state to obtain an EIN, just with the IRS.  The nice thing is you can go here and register online and receive your EIN instantly.

As far a registering with your state, it seems you need to in most if not all states for a variety of different reasons.  I just did a search in Google, "registering my business in Missouri", and it brought up a lot of helpful resources.

It is not always necessary to have a state issued registration but a federal EIN is always required. 

This would depend which merchant provider you sign up with. Also keep in mind that you will most likely already have a state and federal issued tax number to set up a business bank account. 

Recently I received a mail from Paypal informing that they have stopped all the financial transaction to indian banks.

Although Incorporation is not necessary to conduct business online, you may wish to investigate incorporation to protect yourself legally. You don't have to incorporate in the state that you live and different states have different laws about corporate protection.