Business Procedure Template
Business Procedure Template
Business Procedure Template
1. PURPOSE OF DOCUMENT
This document has been prepared in order to simplify the startup process of establishing your business.
By breaking each section down into manageable steps, the overall process becomes much easier to
complete.
Please be advised that there may also be additional steps specific to your area of interest, which may
not included below. This may depend on your geographical location as well.
Choose your business model and identify your specialised product or service.
Check with a domain registry service to see if the business name is available for use as
an Internet domain name.
Register the domain name even if you aren't ready to use it yet.
Choose office space to lease if you don’t intend on operating as a home-based business.
Check zoning laws and deed restrictions if you are going to operate as a home-based
business.
If you will operate as a sole proprietorship, register your Assumed Name Certificate or
d.b.a. (doing business as) in the county where you will conduct business.
Call the Secretary of State’s office to search your business name to see if it is already
registered.
File partnership, corporate, or Limited Liability Company papers with the Secretary of
State's office.
If you will operate as a corporation or LLC, obtain filing requirements for the state
franchise tax.
File the appropriate tax election with the IRS such as the entity classification and “S”
election.
Contact the Internal Revenue Service for information on filing your federal tax
schedules.
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Obtain tax information such as record keeping requirements, facts about estimating taxes,
etc.
Apply for a sales tax permit with the State Comptroller of Public Accounts if necessary.
Find out when you will need to remit the taxes.
Investigate local business tax requirements such as reporting tangible personal property
used to produce income on tax rendition forms.
Obtain the required city, county or state business licenses and/or permits.
If you will have employees, look into other insurance or government requirements:
Unemployment insurance
Worker's compensation
OSHA requirements
Self-employment tax
Set up your business accounting system. Look into the available small business
accounting solutions software packages.
Identify communication equipment needs such as a business land line, cell phone,
Blackberry, fax or PDA.
Develop your business marketing materials. Have business cards and stationery
printed.
Explore your financing options such as self financing, debt or external equity
financing.
A word of caution: There are frequent policy and legislative changes so some of the above steps
may be different for you or may not apply to your business or industry. We advise you to seek
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professional advice or counsel to verify that you have met all legal requirements before starting and
operating your business.
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