<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'>I'm not a lawyer. Depending on your location, things may vary a great deal. In Texas here are the basic steps for what I personally would do for a single individual up to a company of 3 or 4 developers at least as a consulting business:<br><br>(1) Form either a LLC (limited liability company) S-Corp (Subchapter S corporation)<br>(2) Contact an attorney to draft the appropriate documents (single owner with filing fees not over ~$1500?) and have them advise you on specifics of how to file what and where (they can do this for your or you can save some money by doing it yourself)<br>(3) Contact the IRS to get a tax ID number (separate from your social security number)<br>(4) Elect pass-through taxation with the IRS<br>(5) Get some sort of tax accountant (~$500 per IRS return filing, maybe a bit more for some other help)<br>(6) Get a sales tax certificate (in Texas you get this from the State Comptroller's Offfice)<br>(7) Get a separate bank account for the business (you'll need to show your LLC or Incorporation papers to the bank)<br>(8) Get a separate phone number for the business (hey, VoIP's cheap these days -- mine just forwards to my phone)<br>(9) Sign up for QuickBooks Online (yes, it's wonderful accounting system, learn to use it and USE IT)<br>(10) Get a domain, get some business cards, make a little brochure looking web site<br>(11) Think about whether you want a trademark (it's expensive, you probably don't ... get it later if you're successful and ready for more major branding)<br>(12) Consider whether you may wish to contract with a bookkeeper<br>(13) Save receipts for business expenses including taking clients out to eat or travel and professional education / conferences, computers, etc.<br>(14) Check into whether you need to charge sales tax<br>(15) Keep a clear delineation between what assets belong the business and what's personal - track them in QuickBooks<br>(16) Come up with a basic set of contracts / legal agreements and/or a standard contract for your clients to sign<br>(17) All spending for the business is out of the company account<br>(18) Only put money into the business account somewhat occasionally<br>(19) Survey as best you can what fair market rates are for your services and set them based on that<br>(20) Set up a place for basic project management, version control and staging of client sites (maybe rent a colo'd server or two)<br>(21) Keep important business documents in a safety deposit box<br>(22) Set up a paper filing system for basic stuff<br><br>Keep a clear separation b/w business and personal. Lawyers and tax accountants can tell you why it's important. :-)<br><br>Eric<br><br>----- Original Message -----<br>From: "George Lee" <georgeleejr617@gmail.com><br>To: consulting@drupal.org<br>Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2010 9:22:02 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central<br>Subject: [consulting] Setting Up as an Independent Contractor<br><br>Hello,<br><br>Also do folks have information on what steps to take to be an independent contractor? Want to make sure I'm follow the right procedures.<br><br>Peace, community, justice,<br>- George<br>
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