Incorporation affords Maryland business owners protection for their personal assets in the event a legal claim is brought against their business. Additionally, incorporation provides business owners a means to create and protect intellectual property. Moreover, incorporation grants business owners the opportunity to offer stock options or equity to employees.
Maryland also allows professionals to form what is called a professional corporation (a PC). A professional corporation can be useful to groups of professionals such as attorneys, physicians, and accountants who choose to incorporate their practice.
Incorporating offers universal advantages.

How should Maryland business owners incorporate?

To form a Maryland corporation, you need to create your company’s articles of incorporation. These articles will disclose the corporate officers, the number of shares your company will issue along with their value, and the company’s registered agent. These articles must be filed with the Maryland Department of Assessments & Taxation.

The articles of incorporation must list all the names and addresses of your company’s officers listed in your incorporation forms. Maryland requires that each corporation have a President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Your corporation will also need to have at least one director. This director does not need to be a Maryland resident. Additionally, Maryland does not have age restrictions for the director of your corporation. Each director’s address will need to be listed in your articles of incorporation.
The articles must also list your registered agent’s name and physical address. The registered agents address must be in Maryland and cannot be a post office box. It is important to have a service provider serve as your company’s registered agent rather than a business owner or member of their organization serving in this capacity.
Once the company’s total number of shares has been determined, this number should not be changed during the filing process. Changing the number of shares available for your company can have an effect on filing fees.

Finally, you must select a name for your corporation and register it with the state. The name cannot already be on file, nor can it be too similar to a corporation name already registered in Maryland. In addition, the name of your corporation must include either the word “Incorporated” or “Corporation,” or an abbreviation of these terms. You cannot use parentheses in your company name because it is seen as having two names for your business. Moreover, the name may not give the impression that the purpose of your corporation is different than what is stated in its articles of incorporation.

How can GDH LAW help?

Forming a Maryland corporation is a daunting process that is undertaken most efficiently with the professional legal help. Incorporating on your own can lead to missed steps or paperwork that is incorrectly filled out or incorrectly filed which can lead to delays or penalties against your business. Business owners who use cheap, easily-accessible online forms or templates for their articles of incorporation run the risk of having their articles of incorporation not being Maryland-specific and having their corporation being adjudged improper in court. Ultimately, those business owners end up spending more time and money in the long run and can possibly lose their businesses.

When deciding to incorporate your own business, be wise and have GDH LAW counsel you throughout this process. GDH LAW is knowledgeable and efficient in the various aspects of incorporating in Maryland. Our legal services include assistance in creating articles of incorporation and corporate bylaws and in researching appropriate and available business names.