This week, we’ll be covering the basics of forming a business in Alaska.

Like many states, Alaska requires that your corporation or limited liability company name be different from any registered business on file. Corporations and limited liability companies must also have a corporate name identifier. These identifiers include, “Corporation, Incorporated, Inc., and Corp.” For LLCs, you can use “Limited Liability Company or LLC.”

If you’re forming a corporation, Alaska does require that you list a specific business purpose on your Certificate of Incorporation. This means that you’ll have to provide a purpose for the general business you’ll be conducting. Alaska will require that you list one or more directors on the document. You must also be at least 19 years of age to form your business. Alaska’s standard number of shares is 1000, at no par value.

Limited Liability Companies are not required to list a specific purpose on their Articles of Formation. They do require that you list one or members on your document, and have an age requirement of 19 years or older.

Alaska may have annual filing requirements, often known as annual reports, for both corporations and limited liability companies. The filings may be due on a specific day or during a specific time and can cost varying amounts. For update annual requirement information, you can visit Alaska Secretary of State’s website.

If you want to learn more about current businesses in Alaska, take a look at Alaska Business Monthly.

Is your small business registered in Alaska? If we are acting as your registered agent, you can be featured in our Small Business Spotlight. Just comment your name and your company's name below!

Business travel can often be a perk of your job, but the events leading up to your departure can sometimes cause stress. In order to help you have a fully enjoyable experience, we’ve compiled this list of business travel tips and tricks to keep you on top of your game.

Plan

• Book your flight and hotel room well in advance. Take into consideration which airlines and hotels have the best frequent customer programs. Forbes rated Delta, Jetblue, and Virgin America as the top airlines for business travel in 2014. 

• Organize your transportation. If you’re planning on using a rental car, confirm your reservation. If you’re going to rely on public transportation or taxis, take note of their schedules. Taxi Magic is available in 60 US cities. It helps you with fare estimates, pick up scheduling, and taxi tracking.

• Create an itinerary so you’ll know when and where your meetings are. 

• Make sure you have proper travel documents, including your ID and passport. To be safe, make a copy to keep with you.

Prepare

• Review the area where you’ll be staying. Take note of any restaurants, convenience stores, coffee shops, or attractions nearby. A great app to help you with this is Yelp. 

• Check your destination’s weather to make sure you’re packing the right items.

• If you’re going out of the country, you may want consider checking your cell phone costs with your provider.

• Download the WiFi Finder app to help you locate wireless spots when you’ve reached your destination

Pack

• Invest in a lightweight, easy-to-move carry on. Checking bags will cost you time and on some airlines, money. 

• Plan your wardrobe. Taking neutral colors that work well together will give you more outfit options without over packing. Make sure you take a pair of shoes that will be comfortable for any leisure time you may have. 

• Consider placement. If you keep things you’ll want during the flight in outside compartments on your bag, it will be easier to reach. Purchasing a cord organizer can save you time if you’re traveling with many devices.

• Take backups. Having a backup cell phone charger can come in handy if you misplace your own. 

• If you must check a bag, make sure you take a carryon with essential items, including a change of clothes.

  Each week, we’ll be providing you with basic information on forming a corporation or limited liability company in a specific state. Today, we’ll get started with Alabama.

Forming a corporation or a limited liability company in Alabama can take a considerable amount of time longer than other states. If this is where you are conducting, we recommend you for in Alabama, despite the time it may take. 

Before beginning your initial filing document, you may be required to obtain a Certificate of Name Reservation from the State of Alabama. This filing will be sent to the judge of probate, who then forwards the filing to the Alabama Secretary of State.

Alabama requires that you include a corporate name identifier in your company’s name. Corporate identifiers for corporations include “Corporation, Incorporated, Inc., and Corp.” For LLCs, corporate identifiers include “Limited Liability Company or LLC.” Alabama also requires that your business name be distinguishable from any other registered or authorized Alabama business identity.

Alabama does not require that a specific purpose be listed on your formation document for both corporations and limited liability companies.  For corporations, Alabama requires that you have one or more Directors listed on your formation document, but does not require you to list any officers. For a Limited Liability Company’s formation document, Alabama requires that one or more managers or members be listed.

Keep in mind that Alabama may have annual filing requirements for both corporations and LLCs. These filings may be due on a certain date and may cost varying amounts. To be sure that you’re receiving up to date annual requirement information, you can check the Alabama Secretary of State website. You receive further information regarding these filings by calling 800.421.2661.

Alabama Business News is a great site if you’re interested in keeping up with business developments and your potential competition! 

The Annual Franchise Tax for Delaware Corporations is due Saturday, March 1, 2014. Any payments received after Saturday, March 1 will be subject to a late fee, as assesed by the State of Delaware. 

In order to help you file your Annual Report on time, American Incorporators Ltd. will be staying open until 6 PM EST through February 28. 

The State of Delaware will be open on Saturday, March 1, 2014 from 8 AM - 4:30 PM. To contact them directly, you can call 302-739-3077. You can pay your Annual Franchise Tax to the State of Delaware online at www.corp.delaware.gov through the end of the day on March 1.

If you need to pay both your Registered Agent fee and your Annual Franchise Tax, you can pay here until 11 PM EST on Saturday, March 1, 2014. Only use this link if you need to pay both fees.

We will not be available by online chat during any time between 5:30 PM February 28 and 8:30 AM March 3, 2014. Please do not leave any messages regarding your tax in the chat, as we will not be able to answer them until after the tax is due. 

This reminder is for Delaware Corporations only.

 Your Annual Franchise Tax fee of $150 is due to the State of Delaware on or before March 1, 2014. The fee may be higher depending on your company’s number of shares. This fee is paid in arrears for the preceding year, meaning that in 2014, you are paying your tax for the year of 2013. The fee is required to be paid by all Delaware Corporations regardless of company income.  If your fee is not paid on or before March 1, 2014, a late fee along with a 1.5% monthly interest will be assessed by the State of Delaware and your company may fall out of Good Standing.

If you use American Incorporators as your Registered Agent in the State of Delaware, you will be receiving additional reminders including instructions via e-mail and postal mail. American Incorporators also offers a filing service. If you have any questions about how to pay your tax, would like to use our filing service, or are interested in checking the status of your company, please call 800.421.2661. 

* Ask About Our New Compliance Package Services! *

On November 4, 2013, American Incorporators will be moving into our new offices!

Our last day in our current offices will be on Friday, November 1, 2013. On November 1, we will be open until 12 PM EST. If you have any urgent filings, please contact our office prior to that time. If you are mailing any document to American Incorporators after October 31, 2013, please mail it to our new address.

Our new address will be:

Here's a few things to keep in mind during our move:

1. We will update and pay for all necessary filings with the relevant Secretary of State. 

2. This is not your business address. Do not update any of your business mailing addresses, unless you use American Incorporators for Mail Forwarding. If you do not use us for Mail Forwarding, but would like information on how to do so, click here. 

3. If you are a current Mail Forwarding client, you will receive a separate email that will include any further information or instruction.

4. If you would like a company resolution stating the change of address, please contact us by calling 800.421.2661.

5. Our telephone number will not be changing!

If you have any questions, please contact our office at 800.421.2661 or 302.421.5750. 

It’s important for business owners to be cognizant of how their current and potential customers feel about the services they’re providing. One simple, effective way to maintain an understanding of your customers is through distributing and analyzing customer surveys.  Customer surveys allow you to expand your relationship with customers while discovering ways for your business to improve. If you’ve never written a customer survey before, you may not know where to start. To help you out, we’ve created these 5 tips to help you create a customer survey:

1. Define your goals. Once you have a clear, concise objective, creating your survey will become much easier. Each step of the process will always tie into your initial goal. Find your goal by asking yourself these questions:

What am I trying to learn?

Why am I trying to learn this information?

How will I analyze the results?

A few topics you may want to consider include customer loyalty research, new product development, and customer service reviews.

2. Choose Your Audience

After you’ve identified your objective, this step should be easy. Do you want to hear from current customers? Potential customers? Or a mix of both?

If your survey is going to be based on past experiences with your company, you’d be wasting time and resources if you send it to potential customers. Always keep your goal in mind.

3. Create Your Questions

You should start your survey with a brief introduction and include a simple set of directions. If you plan on using responses as testimonials, include a brief disclaimer explaining so.

Each question should be as specific as possible. Make sure you only ask about one point per question. Varying the format of questions can make the survey seem less monotonous and hold the survey taker’s interest. Always include at least one open-ended question, which will give the customer the chance to share their opinion and offer suggestions.

Conclude the survey by thanking the survey taker. Often, surveys will include incentives as a way of thanking that individual for taking their personal time to help your business, but this is optional.

4. Distribute Your Survey

When distributing your survey, keep your audience in mind. Three main types of surveys are phone surveys, direct mail surveys, and online surveys.

Today, you’ll find many free resources to help distribute your survey online. Some of these websites also include tracking data.  Sites such as Survey Monkey or Survey Builder are great places to start if you’ve never worked with online survey distribution. You can link the surveys on your Facebook page, send it out via Twitter, or include it in an email.

5. Analyze Your Results

Make sure you’ve planned how you’ll interpret and track the data you receive from the surveys. Create a timeframe for when you’d like the survey to start and finish, schedule showing how frequently you’ll check the results.

After the survey has concluded, it is important that you do not ignore your results. Don’t keep them sitting in a spreadsheet. Share them with fellow employees and don’t ignore negative feedback. Hopefully, you’ll be receiving positive feedback, but negative feedback deserves a follow up email or call.

This article from Inc provides insight on how you can make the most of your customer feedback.

We hope this article helps  you create a fantastic customer survey! Surveys will always be a simple way to stay in touch with your customers while learning how your business can grow. If you’d like to read more about surveys, Mashable has created a great article with a few more tips, tricks, and suggestions. 

As always, please let us know if there's anything you'd like us to address in our blog! Our Incorporation Specialists are always available for assistance by dialing 800.421.2661.

If your corporation is considering ending all activity, you may want to consider filing a dissolution. We've created this post outlining the basics behind corporate dissolution to help you gain a basic understanding of your options. 

What is a Dissolution?

A dissolution is the statutory procedure that terminates the existence of a domestic corporation.

What are the different types of Dissolutions?

There are 3 different types of dissolutions:

Administrative Dissolution

  An Administrative Dissolution is the involuntary dissolution of a corporation by an act of the Secretary of State or similar state authority, caused by the corporation's failure to comply with certain statutory requirements. This frequently occurs when corporations fail to file an annual report, to pay franchise taxes or maintain a valid Registered Agent.

Voluntary Dissolution

A Voluntary Dissolution is an intentional action by shareholders, incorporators or initial directors to dissolve a corporation.

Judicial Dissolution

A Judicial Dissolution is an involuntary dissolution ordered by a court of law.

What happens during a Dissolution?

During dissolution, all activities of the corporation are ended, which is frequently called “winding up.” Winding up refers to the discharging of a corporation's liabilities and the distributing of its remaining assets to its shareholders in connection with its dissolution.

What’s required to file a Dissolution?

Dissolutions require an officer, director or member of the company to file a Certificate of Dissolution or Certificate of Cancellation after getting shareholder or member approval. To obtain one, your corporation must be in good standing, with all required taxes paid and all annual reports filed with the state.

If you have any questions regarding dissolutions, don't hesitate to call our incorporation specialists by dialing 1.800.421.2661! 

American Incorporators

would like to wish you a

Safe & Happy 4th of July!

Our office will be closed on Thursday, July 4, 2013 and will reopen on Friday, July 5, 2013 at 8AM EST. 

American Incorporators is excited to introduce the Small Business Spotlight feature to our blog. The Small Business Spotlight will highlight businesses that we have helped get started. Each business will have the opportunity to provide a background of their business, highlight products and services, and share advice with entrepreneurs.

If you’re interested in being featured in the Small Business Spotlight, please contact Samantha@ailcorp.com and include “Small Business Spotlight” in the subject line. After we review your website, you will be contacted with information on how to be featured!

We look forward to introducing you to many amazing small businesses!