How to Form a Company in Alaska

Introduction

If you’re thinking of starting an Alaska business, you may be wondering how to form a company in Alaska. You can incorporate in Alaska pretty easily, but there are some things to consider before you do. Here’s what you need to know:

Choose the type of business entity you want to form.

You’ll need to decide what type of business entity you want to form. There are several different types of businesses, including sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations and S corporations. Each has its own tax structure and set-up requirements.

To help you make the right choice, here’s a brief description of each:

• Sole Proprietorship—This is the most common kind of business and is owned by one individual who runs the company without any other owners or partners. The owner or “proprietor” reports all income on his or her personal tax return (Form 1040) under Schedule C along with self-employment tax (SE). In this case, there is no such thing as “separate corporate existence.” In other words: You are your own corporation for tax purposes; you must file all returns in your name as the sole proprietor regardless of whether the organization has been registered with Alaska State Corporations Division or not!

Check the name availability of your chosen business.

Once you’ve decided on a name for your company, it’s important to check the name against the state database. You can do this at the Alaska Division of Corporations website.

Once you’re sure that your chosen business name isn’t already registered as a trade or fictitious name in Alaska (or in any other state), it’s time to check with the federal government. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office maintains its own database of registered trademarks, so be sure to look there before submitting your application to register your trademark with their office.

Checking social media is another good way to ensure no one else has used or is using an identical or similar business name as yours—and don’t forget about domain names! If someone has already purchased “yournamehere” as their domain address, they may not be happy if you try registering that same domain address for yourself later down the line (unless they sold it outright).

File a Certificate of Formation.

• File a Certificate of Formation.
• File with the state, secretary of state, office of the governor, department of commerce, department of revenue and the department of natural resources.
• File with the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing — this has to be done in person or by mail.

Pay your filing fees.

Once you’ve completed your application and submitted it to the state, the next step is paying your filing fees. The fee for forming an Alaska LLC is $50; it’s $100 for corporations and non-profit corporations. You can pay these fees with a credit card or cash at any time before or during the process of creating your company name.

As long as you’re paying online, it takes less than five minutes from start to finish! To make sure this all goes smoothly for you, here are some important details about how to pay:

• When you’re ready to pay, select “Make Payment” under “Finalize Your Application” in your account dashboard.
• If this is your first time making an online payment with us, please be sure that our bank has already processed one of your payments successfully before attempting another one (this usually takes 2-3 business days). If there are any issues with processing payments successfully through our system, we’ll let you know via email so we can troubleshoot together!

Create a management structure for your company.

The next step is to create a management structure for your company. You’ll need to decide who will be the officers and directors of the company, as well as how many shares of stock you want to issue.

Officers are those responsible for day-to-day operations and making sure that their decisions are carried out by other employees. They’re also responsible for keeping accurate records of all financial transactions. Directors are responsible for overseeing all major policy decisions, including strategic planning and budgeting. The shareholders are owners of the business who receive dividends based on profits from sales or other income sources generated by the business—they do not have operational authority within a corporation (unless they’re also officers or directors).

File an annual business report.

To maintain your corporation, you’ll need to file an annual business report with the state. This includes information about the company’s finances, such as income and expenses. The due date is usually within six months of your corporation’s anniversary date (the same day that you filed your Certificate of Formation). If no report is filed within nine months after the last required report, a $25 late fee will be assessed for each month or part thereof during which no filing is made.

Create a company seal, if you want one.

A company seal is the official stamp of your business. It’s a small piece of metal with a unique design, like an ink pad, that you can use to make impressions on things like contracts and invoices.

Companies are required to use their seals when signing documents related to their operations as a business entity, such as contracts and checks.

You don’t have to pay for your seal up front: you can order one after you’ve registered your Alaska LLC with the state government! The Alaska Division of Corporations will send it directly to your home address—just make sure it gets there safely!

You can incorporate in Alaska pretty easily.

You can incorporate yourself or hire an attorney to do so. In either case, the process is pretty straightforward and takes only a few minutes to complete.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that there are some crucial steps you need to follow for your new company’s documents and bylaws. If you skip any of these steps, your company may not be valid under state law and could end up costing you more money than necessary down the road if/when there are problems with one of your employees or vendors (or even worse—customers).

In addition, if this is your first time incorporating a business structure in Alaska and/or incorporating outside of your home state, it might make sense for you to ask an attorney for advice about what kind of business structure would best suit your needs based on industry type / expected growth potential / number of shareholders involved etc..

Conclusion

You now have a company in Alaska. Congratulations!