How to Form a Company in Idaho

Introduction

Idaho is a great place to start a business. It’s small, friendly, and inexpensive—all the things you need to get started on your entrepreneurial adventure. Whether you’re opening up a coffee shop or trying to get your new technology company off the ground, there are certain steps you must take in order to form your corporation or LLC. Let’s take a look at each one:

1. Choose a name for your company.

Once you’re ready to get started, the first step is selecting a name for your new company. The Idaho Secretary of State provides an online tool that checks whether your desired business name is available or not. This site also suggests similar names in case yours is unavailable (or if you want to consider other options).

Once you’ve registered the name, it’s time to choose a location for your office and business bank accounts. If these are going to be located outside of Idaho, it’s important that you have access to them as often as possible—especially when filing taxes or paying bills!

2. Register with the state.

As a business owner, you must register your company with the state. It is a legal requirement that you register your business with the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office. You can do this online by visiting the Secretary of State’s website, logging in to your existing account (if you have one), or creating a new account. If you would rather use paper forms, they are also available on their website or at any clerk’s office around Idaho’s border states.

Once logged into your account (or after creating one), click on “Forms” from within the main menu and select “Registration Forms.” Next, choose “Form ID-100: Application for Domestic Corporation,” which will allow you to fill out a form for registering as an LLC in Idaho

3. Create an operating agreement.

An operating agreement is a legal document that explains how your company will be run, who owns what and how profits are distributed. An operating agreement should include:

• The name of the company and what it does.
• Who owns what, including percentages or interests in property owned by the company. In some cases, there may be an unequal distribution of ownership based on a person’s initial investment or contribution of capital to start the business; for example, if one person contributes $100 and another contributes $10,000 to start up a business together but later each receives 25% ownership because they’ve made equal contributions since then (time spent working is counted as part of these contributions).
• How decisions are made. Decisions can be made by majority vote or unanimous consent—if people disagree about something important to the business (for example: “Should we expand our services?”), then everyone needs to agree before moving ahead with anything new.* How profits will be distributed among owners (this could vary depending on whether all owners work full-time at their businesses).

4. Obtain your EIN number.

It’s time to apply for your EIN (Employer Identification Number). This number is required by the IRS if you want to form a company in Idaho, so it’s important that you get it.

You can apply for an EIN by filling out Form SS-4: Application for Employer Identification Number, which you can download from the IRS website. You’ll need information about yourself and your business, including how long you’ve been operating and how many employees work at your company. The more complex your business structure is, the more questions there will be on this application—so be sure to read through everything carefully before submitting it!

5. Apply for municipal licenses and permits.

Once you’ve formed your company in Idaho, you’ll need to apply for some municipal licenses and permits. These are required by local governments and allow your business to operate within their jurisdiction. Since the process will vary from one city or county to another, we can’t provide specific instructions in this guide. However, most cities have a municipal licensing office that can help you understand the requirements and fill out any necessary paperwork. You may need to get approval from several different offices—like fire inspection, health department, liquor control commission—before opening your business fully up for operation!

Depending on where you’re located within Idaho and what type of license or permit is required by law (or even just recommended), getting all these documents can take anywhere from a day up through a couple weeks’ time depending on how far along into the process each party has gotten before contacting with one another.

6. Open a business bank account and apply for credit cards in the company’s name, not yours personally.

• Open a business bank account and apply for credit cards in the company’s name, not yours personally. This is one of the most important things to do as soon as you start your business in Idaho. You need to keep all of your finances separate from personal expenses when working on a side hustle or as an independent contractor—even if it comes at a cost. It will be easier to manage taxes this way, so make sure that you’re keeping everything organized by paying bills from designated accounts and using separate credit cards for personal and work expenses.

Takeaway:

The takeaway from this article is that forming a company in Idaho is not complicated. However, you need to be prepared to spend some money and follow the process through for it to be effective. The state has many rules about how companies should be formed; therefore, you should make sure that your business entity has all of the necessary elements before you begin the process.

The process involves forming a corporation or LLC first, then registering it with the state. Afterward, there are other requirements depending on which type of entity was chosen:

• Corporations must have at least one director and shareholder who holds at least 50% of the shares issued by a corporation before they can operate legally within Idaho;
• Limited liability companies (LLCs) require two or more members who own equal shares and manage their affairs together;

Conclusion

So, now you know how to form a company in Idaho. With these steps and your knowledge, you should be able to set up shop quickly and easily. We hope that this article has helped you on the way!