Starting An Online Investment Club - Part 3Provided By Ultimate Trading Systems Organizing Your Online Investment ClubIn parts 1 and 2 of this series I gave some broad guidelines on the business set up of your online investment club. In this article well go into some more detail. First off, your online investment club will need to decide what type of business entity it is. An online investment club can be a corporation, general partnerships, or limited liability partnerships. Each of these business models has their own advantages and disadvantages. · Corporation. Your online investment club may want to avoid becoming a corporation. This is because corporations are taxable business entities that require a great deal of accounting knowledge to be run smoothly in accordance with government regulations. · General partnership. This type of business model requires less paperwork and knowledge about taxes and other financial issues. Most online investment clubs choose a general partnership as their choice of a business entity. With this model, general taxes are passed on to each partners tax returns. This type of business model will let you accomplish what you need to do to run your investment club with the least amount of tax issues. · Limited liability corporations. This type of a business model is much like the general partnership but it gives individual members of your online investment club a bit more liability protection. Keep in mind that this type of business entity can be expensive and will need more paperwork. The online investment club will need to decide which business model suits its needs best, and declare it when the online investment club is registered. What information is required to register your online investment club depends on where you are located. Each government has slightly different expectations, and youll need to contact your local government to determine what yours requires. If you live in the United States you can contact the Office of the Secretary of State for more information about registering your online investment club at http://www.nass.org/sos/sosflags.html The United States will assign a Federal Tax ID Number to your online investment club. Youll need to use this number on all your tax returns, and youll also need the ID number to deal with your brokerage firm and your bank when youre opening up accounts for your online investment club. To obtain a Federal Tax ID Number you need to get an IRS Form SS-4, which can be obtained at any local library. Or you can contact the IRS website directly on the Internet to obtain a copy at http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=102767,00.html The procedure, and process, of obtaining a government ID number for tax purposes will vary depending on what country you live in. But no matter what country that you live in, its important that you request your Tax ID Number as soon as you can to avoid delay to your investment schedule. Youll also want to come up with an appropriate mission statement for your online investment club. This isnt something that you need to do right away, but within a few months of your start up the online investment club should have one in place. Your mission statement should state, in two or three sentences, the reason your online investment club was formed and what it hopes to accomplish. For example, your mission statement could be: to improve members' understanding of investment management; to help members develop practical investment skills and test them in the markets; and to double their investment within five years. Youll want to write down your mission statement and make sure that each member of the online investment club, and any future members, has a copy of the mission statement. Your mission statement will keep your online investment club focussed on the goals it has set and keep it moving towards them.
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