Starting and Naming a Business - Free Essay Example

I would recommend an LLC business entity to Shania as it best accomplishes her goals. An LLC is both a mixture of a corporation as well as a sole proprietorship. A Limited Liability Company entity will harness the benefits of both the corporation and a sole proprietorship and leave behind all the disadvantages (Hillman, & Loewenstein, 2015). By this, I mean, corporations run through double taxation. Therefore, a corporation is required to pay its taxes at a federal level, and those who own it must also pay taxes on their dividends and individual tax returns.

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Corporations are very tedious and costly to set up, and they require officials such as the board of directors, among others (Spilker et al., 2019). However, corporations have liability protection; thus, the owners are protected from any debt or liability of the company.

A sole proprietorship has the disadvantage of unlimited liability, meaning that the owner is totally responsible for every debt as well as the liability of that business (Hillman, & Loewenstein, 2015). A sole proprietorship's advantage is pass-through taxation, whereby the income for a sole proprietorship is passed through directly to the owner's individual tax return.

Hence, there is no double taxation or corporate tax return. Setting up sole proprietorships is also easy, and the management is quite flexible. The advantages of a sole proprietorship, together with the advantages of a corporation make an LLC the best of all other entities. It will provide Shania's business with liability protection, debtors' protection, no double taxes, and pass-through taxation (Spilker et al., 2019).

Shania should, therefore, consider the people she wants to set up the business with and those she feels comfortable with and talk to them on registering an LLC. The LLC that Shania sets up should be Multi-Member LLC that pays taxes like partnerships (Hillman, & Loewenstein, 2015).

According to Colorado Secretary of State, the business name "The Gathering Place" is unavailable for use in the State of Colorado. Many other businesses have been registered with this business; therefore, Shania cannot use this name for her business (2020). The name is also not available as a trademark, as it has already been registered, and this name is not the right choice for Shania to use as a business name. It is not the right choice because the name is not unique at all. The name has already been used by other LLCs, and corporations in the state of Colorado. The name can also be confusable with other business names (Hillman, & Loewenstein, 2015).

After searching for the business name in the Colorado secretary of state website, I found out that there are very many business names that were registered under that name. Although some of their statuses are already withdrawn, some are active and have names that can be confused with Shania's name. For instance, some have used suffixes, definite articles, singular, plural and word forms, abbreviations, punctuation, etc. to try and make the name look different thus, making it easily confusable.

Shania should, therefore, come up with a very unique name that has not been registered at all at the Colorado Secretary of State website. Choosing a unique name will help Shania and her business associates stay out of trouble. Choosing the name of a business that is too similar to another may make businesses accuse Shania of infringing on trademark rights. She may be ordered to pay money damages causing the company to suffer the losses incurred by the lawsuits (Spilker et al., 2019).

Shania should include Marvin, her husband as a business partner, and her sister Kelsey because she has shown interest in being part of the business too. Carlos should be left out and not included in the business. Both Marvin and Kelsey should help Shania set up the business as they both have interests and be given the role of co-founders. They should be allowed to make decisions affecting the business if they all contribute to the startup. As an LLP entity, both their input will be of the essence as Shania will need it and as equal business partners (Hillman, & Loewenstein, 2015).

Carlos is a non-Christian, and according to the bible, it is prohibited for Christians to go into business with non-Christians. According to 2 Corinthians 6:14, it is written, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness (Radmacher, Allen, & House, 2014)?"

In the verse, Paul cautions Christians about working arrangements with people who are nonbelievers. He invokes reference to Deuteronomy 22:10, which warn believers against plowing with oxen and donkeys yoked together. Maybe this is for the reason that a donkey can struggle to pull the load of the ox, and the ox may not go at the pace in which the donkey is going (Radmacher, Allen, & House, 2014).

Christians explain the verse citing that nonbelievers usually have differing worldviews compared to those of believers. The views include issues on morals, ethics, and values, among others. It is believed that any relationship, including a business relationship, exists in a way that the testimony of a believer to the goodness and faithfulness of Christ can be harmed, damaged and compromised; such a relationship should be avoided at all costs (Hillman, & Loewenstein, 2015).

Christians believe that God put them on earth mainly to bear witness to His truth and act as Christ's representatives here on earth. When entering in any kind of relationship, a Christian ought to ask herself the likelihood that her testimony for Jesus is going to be compromised or damaged.

Shania's neighbor Carlos wants to go into business because it has potential as big churches are located within the area; hence, the "Christian thing" would earn him extra income. Carlos only takes the business to make money. Therefore, he may have his own values and ethics that are not in line with Shania's, which may create conflicts in the business, especially if he is made a partner.

For instance, Carlos may want to charge exorbitant prices for the coffee they serve while Shania knows that it is against Christian values to extort money from other people, and it is morally wrong to charge highly to get more profit.

Making Carlos a business partner may shake Shania's faith, which may make her sin to gain profit, which, according to Christians, means that the goodness and faithfulness of Christ through Shania's testimony will get damaged. It is therefore wise for Shania to keep Carlos out of the business so that she can avoid conflicts that may arise later on and make the business which they worked so hard to set up, fail.

References

(2020). Retrieved 23 June 2020, from https://www.sos.state.co.us/biz/BusinessEntityCriteriaExt.do

Hillman, R. W., & Loewenstein, M. J. (2015). Research Handbook On Partnerships, Llcs And Alternative Forms Of Business Organizations. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (2014). The NKJV Study Bible: NKJV New King James Version. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson.

Spilker, B. C., Ayers, B. C., Robinson, J. R. C., Outslay, E., Worsham, R. G., Weaver, C. D., & Barrick, J. A. (2019). McGraw-Hill's Taxation of Business Entities. New York: McGraw Hill Education.