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Hi everyone. I think I am going to start a small art-related business. I'm not sure how to do this in terms of bureaucratic necessities, but I am sure of what I want to do in terms of business operations.

So, I was thinking this could be a useful part of the forum in which people share information about how to handle small business startups, i.e. recording studios, rehearsal studios, record labels, or other artistic/production related enterprises.

I'm particularly interested in the really boring shit: registering EINs, Federal and State (Illinois) filing forms, business bank accounts and accounting, the costs and/or necessities of hiring accountants and lawyers, insurance, city regulations, permits, zoning bull shit, and so forth.

If there's already a thread for this, I looked and didn't find it.

I'll get it started: I want to start a film and video production and post-production service. I have one partner, and we think we want to register as an S-Corp. We have considered general partnership and LLC, but it appears that S-Corp offers the best tax incentives. I know how to register an EIN and I'm curious which of the 15-20 small business filing forms in the Illinois small business website are compulsory for a bare minimum startup.

You mentioned the State of Illinois site--you also might want to check out the City of Chicago small business site. It would probably be best to consult with an accountant regarding whether you go with S corp or whatever. One thing you might need that I don't think you mentioned is registering your business name--DBA.

Also, you might find this site to be helpful:
http://www.nolo.com/index.cfm
http://www.nolo.com/resource.cfm/catID/ ... D/111/228/

IANALOAA (I am not a lawyer or an accountant) but the tax benefits are similar between an LLC and schedule S corp with the exception of some employment tax, but the record keeping and filing requirements are less of a hassle with an LLC.

In the case of the employment tax, you're talking about monies paid into Social Security and Medicare so you're likely to see that money again, it just won't be for a while.

Lack of flexibility in profit distribution in schedule S is a negative in my opinion.

I recently formed a sole-member LLC in the State of Michigan. I considered the schedule S structure, but the LLC seemed better for me. I have owned other LLCs and found them to be easy to maneuver.