Getting legal with multiple businesses

I have a question for all the experts out there.

I have serveral different "ventures" I run. I do computer repair/webdesign as one 'business', swimming pool servicing with another, and a soon to be ecommerce site.

In the past when doing jobs for customers I would usually just take cash or not report the small checks etc. However I think it is time for me to transfer these little "ventures" into actually businesses and get professional. I want to register them etc and get 100% legal.

Now with all the many different branches of things I do I am not sure how to go about this. If I just had the computer repair gig I would probably just register DBA. However since I have multiple gigs what is the best way to go about this? Can I register a parent company such as "JCA Something" (some generic parent company) and have all the other businesses under that, or do I actually have to register them all indivdually? I just figured it would be better if I have once main "business" with everything under it. But once again, I am completely unfamiliar with most of this.

I searched and I found a couple suggestions on a related topic about a LLC while another thread just said to stick with DBA. Didn't really help much, as I am still confused

Anyways any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated.

I need to be pointed in the right direction

Thanks

 

From what I have seen out there, it seams that the best solution is to register a single corporation or LLC as the base. From there register a new DBA and trademark(if necessary). DBA's are cheap and easy and as far as I know, there is no limit to how many you can have. Tax reporting could get complicated if you have a ton of DBA's but it should be legal, and most definitely the easiest way to do it.

 

This is really a question you should ask an accountant. The most important decision is whether or not you even need to file a business entity (corp or LLC) and your accountant can tell you if there is enough revenue to warrant that. Then, you have to decide corp vs. llc, which is also a good question for an accountant.

The DBA route has no impact on taxes at all - it's just a name. You could file a DBA for yourself or for your company, but it's just another name that can be used for checks, etc. So, this will have no affect on your taxation or liability situation.

 

As a resident of Texas myself, I can assure you that filing for a corporation (Inc.) is very simple here and it now can even be done online. Here is a link to get you started in the right direction:

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/corp/index.shtml

I'm sure this will help answer many of your questions. If you want to file a standard DBA, that would be at the county level and you would need to call your local county offices for filing a "fictitious business name" or DBA. LMK what county you live in and I can get you a phone number.

Hope this helps

 

Correction: Texas counties commonly call a DBA a filing for an "Assumed Name" not "ficticious business name" as stated before (they do it that way in California). Assumed Names filings usually cost about $20 and can be done at the County Clerk's office while a Corporation is at the state level and in Texas will be around $300 if my memory serves me well.

 

In Texas it is a $325 filing fee for an LLC or a corporation.

Yes you would also need to go down to your county clerk to register the DBA.