Today, my corporation, like most small Minnesotan corporations, received a notice in the mail. It looks ***very*** official. In fact, it has a Document Return Request Date of next week and has the formatting of a legal document that you would file with the State of Minnesota. It looks very urgent.
Don’t be taken in by this document. It costs you $150 for them to essentially write your annual meeting minutes, something that might take you a half hour and yours will be more accurate.
If you aren’t already doing this yourself (which, if you are a corporation, you should be), it’s very simple. We have the formatting you need here at Resources. If you are an LLC, this isn’t a requirement in MN (but might be in other states), but is suggested as a great business practice.
To be a legal corporation in Minnesota (and this IS true of most states), you have to have an annual meeting of your Board of Directors – even if it’s just you! This set of minutes needs to be kept in a Corporate Book (manila folders also work). Also, whereever you have this meeting, that meeting is tax deductible. So you could have this meeting in Phoenix or Paris, for instance. Short of funds? Your meeting could be at your kitchen table.
One thing this marketing piece (that looks legal) does bring up is the fact that if you do not have these minutes on file, in the event of an audit, supoena or lawsuit, your corporate veil could be broken and you would be treated as a sole proprietor with all the liabilities THAT status brings. So it is important to do this legal work once per year for yourself.
If you set up your corporation yourself, you might not be in compliance with the annual meeting rules, so do call me at Resources (763-476-4227), and we can talk to you about your situation to see what needs to be done.
Until later,
Terri Zeh Jacobson
Resources Inc
