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FORTUNE Small Business:

A startup checklist for new businesses

Ask FSB's answers for banking and legal questions.

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Ask FSB
Get small-business intelligence from the experts. Here's a chance for YOU to ask your pressing small-business questions, and FSB editors will help you get answers from the appropriate experts.
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(FORTUNE Small Business) -- Dear FSB: I am in the process of forming a stocks/investing-related LLC in New York with a friend from North Carolina, and just completed the process for the employer identification number (EIN). I have two questions: There was only space for one name on the LLC application form and I put mine in. Is that okay? Second: I tried to open a small-business banking account and they said I need articles about the partnership. Where would I get this, and is it the last step? I appreciate any help.

- Damion, Queens, N.Y.

Dear Damion: No need to worry - filing the LLC application in your name doesn't leave your friend out of the business.

"Being the organizer and forming the LLC is not determinative of who has the capital interest," says Anthony Mancuso, a California lawyer who has written books on LLCs. Just be sure to list your friend and other partners as members or managers in the LLC's organizing documents or operating agreement, Mancuso says.


If you still have LLC-related questions, contact the New York Department of State, Division of Corporations, a local Small Business Development Center (SBDC), or a branch of the Senior Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), says Jim King, SBDC state director for New York. Also, the New York state bar association can be a good resource for free legal advice.

To open a business bank account, most LLCs must provide their bank with a copy of their founding document, known as the "articles of organization" (or a "certificate of formation" in some states), says John Meyer, head of business development at The Company Corporation, a Delaware firm that provides incorporation services. You can get a copy of your articles of organization for $10 from the New York Department of State.

Each bank will have its own specific requirements to set up an LLC business account. Among other documents, HSBC Bank USA asks for a copy of the LLC's articles of organization plus the filing receipt.

The whole process usually takes two meetings: one to figure out what the client needs (lending, cash management, etc.), and the second to complete and submit all forms, with valid identification, says senior manager Reginald Canal. Then you should be ready for business.

"Once the paperwork is all set, everything usually is up and running the next day," Canal says.  To top of page

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