For new company formation assistance

• Minnesota Secretary of State
  • Business Entity Search Page: used to look up existing companies and to do name availability searches. See http://mblsportal.sos.state.mn.us/
  • On-line Forms (Minnesota): the cheapest way to form a new corporation or limited liability company. The challenge is that you do not know what you have, or what choices you made in the process. See http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=331
  • Minnesota Annual Business Registration: used to complete, on-line, a companies required annual business registration in Minnesota. See http://mblsportal.sos.state.mn.us/, look up your company, select details to view your company, and select File Annual Renewal

• TESS (FTC Trademark Electronic Search System): used to search for existing federal trademark registrations and filings in advance of adopting a tradename or mark.
  • See http://tess2.uspto.gov and perform a basic word search for preliminary results.

• Minnesota Department of Revenue
  • Minnesota Business Registration: used to register a new business for state income tax and sales tax collection. See https://www.mndor.state.mn.us/tp/webreg/_/#1

• Internal Revenue Service
  • On-line Form SS-4: used by a new company to obtain a federal taxpayer identification number. See http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss4.pdf for the on-line form to complete (and to determine the information needed) or https://sa2.www4.irs.gov/modiein/individual/index.jsp to apply on-line.

• Delaware Division of Corporations
  • Business Entity Search Page: used to look up existing companies and to do name availability searches. See https://delecorp.delaware.gov/tin/GINameSearch.jsp

 

For general small and start-up business assistance

• Minnesota Department of Economic Security
  • Several excellent publications, available free of charge, that assist entrepreneurs in understanding many aspects of starting a new business. Highly recommended. See http://www.positivelyminnesota.com/Business/Get_Help_from_Our_Exp…

• Minnesota Small Business Assistance Office
  • Provides materials and articles on various topics of interest to a new business. See http://www.positivelyminnesota.com/Business/Get_Help_from_Our_Exp…

• Small Business Administration
  • Provides materials and articles on various topics of interest to a new business. See http://www.sba.gov/category/navigation-structure/starting-managing-business/starting-business