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Arizona Business Formation Questions & Answers
1 Answer | Asked in Tax Law, Business Formation and Business Law for Arizona on
Q: I recently started an LLC for my business late last year. Do I need to file something about the CTA?

My business has no income yet. I'm just getting started doing Web Development and Technology Consultancy. My CPA mentioned I should check and see if the new CTA Law applies to me or not.

James L. Arrasmith
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answered on Feb 22, 2024

As a new LLC owner in Phoenix, AZ, you should be aware that Arizona's new Commercial Transaction Privilege Tax (CTA) law may apply to your business. The CTA law imposes taxes on various business activities, including web development and technology consultancy services. Even if your business... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Tax Law, Business Formation and Business Law for Arizona on
Q: Is it possible to add a second DBA to my existing LLC in Arizona?

My husband and I own an LLC business in Arizona with S-Corp tax status. (My husband is a self-published author, so our LLC falls into the Independent Artists category.)

I'm an oil painter and I now want to start selling my oil paintings online. I'd like to use a different name... View More

James L. Arrasmith
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answered on Jan 26, 2024

In Arizona, it is indeed possible for an LLC to operate under more than one "Doing Business As" (DBA) name. This allows a single legal entity, such as your LLC, to conduct various types of businesses under different names while maintaining the same underlying ownership and legal... View More

3 Answers | Asked in Bankruptcy, Business Formation, Business Law and Contracts for Arizona on
Q: Two small business entanglement debt and liability question.

My employer (E) has two small businesses (A and B) both 100% owned by E. Business A owes business B a significant amount of money for services accumulated throughout the years. However, E wants to protect the assets of A from any happenings relating to B. If B goes bankrupt will the creditors of B... View More

Diane L. Drain
Diane L. Drain
answered on Jan 16, 2023

Your "employer" needs to talk with an experienced bankruptcy attorney in order to determine their best course of action. This is not a decision that should be made lightly. Do not rely on a "mass-production" law firm (one that pays for advertising on the Internet or TV).... View More

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3 Answers | Asked in Bankruptcy, Business Formation, Business Law and Contracts for Arizona on
Q: Two small business entanglement debt and liability question.

My employer (E) has two small businesses (A and B) both 100% owned by E. Business A owes business B a significant amount of money for services accumulated throughout the years. However, E wants to protect the assets of A from any happenings relating to B. If B goes bankrupt will the creditors of B... View More

W. J. Winterstein Jr.
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W. J. Winterstein Jr.
answered on Jan 16, 2023

A trustee in bankruptcy "steps into the shoes of the debtor". Consequently, a bankruptcy trustee is entitled to pursue and collect/liquidate any obligations to the debtor.

That's in a Chapter 7 case, where a trustee is automatically appointed.

In a Ch. 11, the debtor...
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1 Answer | Asked in Business Formation, Business Law, Contracts and Insurance Bad Faith for Arizona on
Q: Do I have a good small claims court case?

I took over a business in Sept 2022, 6/7 mos later I gave the business back to the OG owner as it wasn’t a fit. Oct 22 I did work for a customer, charged him appropriately. In feb 23 I receive a chargeback for “unaware of pmt” to my business act for those services. This causes a whole lot of... View More

Tim Akpinar
Tim Akpinar
answered on Jul 28, 2023

An Arizona attorney could advise best, but your question remains open for two weeks. Before taking action, it could be advisable to first check with the card, financial institution, etc. to see what their policy and your options are in terms of recourses with chargebacks. Good luck

1 Answer | Asked in Bankruptcy, Business Formation, Business Law and Civil Litigation for Arizona on
Q: Def transferd all assets to LLC aftr judgment, can I gain access to LLC with a Default Judgment of new Complaint?

Won a judgment against defendant. The def had an LLC for their business but never used it in any way. It laid dormant since 2019 until my judgment. The original first year address has been outdated and out of commission. The Arizona Corp Commission has suggested this would be an Invalid LLC address... View More

Timothy Denison
Timothy Denison
answered on Jan 16, 2023

No. You would need to try to “pierce the corporate veil.” It is doable but difficult and a new default judgment or complaint would not be effective in so doing.

1 Answer | Asked in Business Formation and Business Law for Arizona on
Q: I'm looking for a Business attorney that can help me prepare a Certificate/Resolution per the SBA request.

This was the email I received from SBA below

=======

1. Please provide a Certificate/Resolution that includes:

a. A statement that the LLC held a meeting and specify the date (on or after loan approval date of 6/2/2020)

b. A statement that the LLC authorizes... View More

Ilene L McCauley
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Ilene L McCauley
answered on Feb 23, 2021

Thanks so much for the list. You will need to hire an attorney to prepare these for you. If the business is in San Diego the attorney must be licensed in California.

1 Answer | Asked in Business Formation and Business Law for Arizona on
Q: I am thinking of opening a dog bakery in my home. Is that legal? Would it require permits?
Ilene L McCauley
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Ilene L McCauley
answered on Jun 25, 2020

Thank you for your question. The answers depend upon where you live. You need to contact the city or municipality to answer whether or not a permit is required. However you also need to think about taxes on the money that you earn. I recommend you speak with the city or municipality regarding... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Business Formation, Business Law, Intellectual Property and Trademark for Arizona on
Q: Question re: intellectual property (software, trademarks), closing a CA LLC partnership, and marital property and debt.

I want to hire someone for legal advice but don't know what type attorney I need.

I had my own IT business prior to marriage. While married I formed a CA LLC partnership with then husband and a family member of his.

I filed for divorce and it went through uncontested, but the... View More

Karima Gulick
Karima Gulick
answered on Aug 20, 2019

you need a business attorney and possibly a family lawyer as well.

2 Answers | Asked in Copyright and Business Formation for Arizona on
Q: Can I use use the brand name "The Vape Collection" if it's taken for a completely different field or industry?
John Espinosa
John Espinosa
answered on May 20, 2018

Trademarks protect brands, not copyrights. A trademark protects the use of the brand in the particular industries, or classes, listed on the trademark registration. Here is a resource: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/trademark-classes.html

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1 Answer | Asked in Business Formation and Immigration Law for Arizona on
Q: Hi There ! My question is that if I buy a business worth $250,000 and have 5 employees. Can get GC using this?

This is a business I am trying to buy and apply GC based on this business 5 employees. $250,000 is the cost.

Carl Shusterman
Carl Shusterman
answered on Apr 20, 2018

You may be able to qualify for an E-2 visa if your country has a treaty with the US which permits this.

However, you would not qualify for a green card. See below:

EB5 – stands for employment based 5th preference immigrant visa category. This visa category is allocated to foreign...
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1 Answer | Asked in Real Estate Law, Business Law and Business Formation for Arizona on
Q: Real Estate AZ. I am not a licensed realtor but can I set up an LLC company and receive referrals through the LLC?
Peter H. Westby
Peter H. Westby
answered on Apr 9, 2018

You can set up your business as an LLC but, if you will be performing services for others that are traditionally performed by licensed agents in Arizona, you will need to employ a licensed person and perform services under his/her license.

1 Answer | Asked in Consumer Law, Contracts, Business Formation, Civil Litigation and Small Claims for Arizona on
Q: We hired a venue for my daughter's quinceanera cost us over $10,000. A shoebox with at least $5,000 of gifts was stolen.

The venue had no security cameras and I found out that this is happened before and they still have not put security cameras in. Can we hold them liable for the $5,000 of stolen merchandise.

Peter H. Westby
Peter H. Westby
answered on Mar 13, 2018

You may have a good claim. Generally, a business is not responsible for the criminal conduct of a third party. But where a business has notice of prior thefts and does not take reasonable steps to secure its premises for the protection of its customers, there can be liability for a... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Business Law and Business Formation for Arizona on
Q: Forming an LLC with partner stationed overseas, while I live in Arizona.

Hi, I am getting ready to form an LLC together with my boyfriend, we will be a member-managed LLC. However when adding his name to the application I need to provide an address, but he is currently stationed in South Korea for a year, and we will be moving together to Guam after that.

How... View More

Peter H. Westby
Peter H. Westby
answered on Mar 9, 2018

If Arizona is his home state you should use the address that he provided the military if this is still a good address. If not, you should have him authorize you to use your address. When you relocate to Guam you will need to update your information. You will also need to maintain a local... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Business Formation and Business Law for Arizona on
Q: Dissolving my LLC

I have just received my LLC documents from legalzoom, i haven't signed any of them. Can i dissolve my llc without signing the documents because signing them is impossible, both my 2 other members live abroad. I did this mistake without knowing they must be US citizens. Can i dissolve my LLC... View More

Michael Gerity
Michael Gerity
answered on Feb 9, 2018

Hello. You are experiencing first hand why these cut-rate online legal services are such a huge problem (and, I should add, how attorneys who do this kind of work often end up getting a fair amount of business trying to clean up all of the problems caused by these services.

Anyway,...
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1 Answer | Asked in Business Law and Business Formation for Arizona on
Q: I have a company name I want to use. There is LLC registered with the same name from nearly 15 years ago.

I can find little trace of them, only two generic business listings with only the information provided on the LLC application from 2003. I found his licence application for the same time period, it shows he never completed his state licence application. Don't think they ever went into... View More

Peter H. Westby
Peter H. Westby
answered on Feb 5, 2018

I would use a different name. However, if this name is critical to your business, I recommend hiring a private investigator to locate the members of this LLC. Once located, you might negotiate a license to use the name or, perhaps, purchase the LLC itself. You must be certain that the LLC is... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Business Formation for Arizona on
Q: On a limited partnership agreement, are initials required on every page? Or just one signature on the last page?

We believe our General Partner has made changes to the original contract. Because there is only one signature from each partner on the document, at the last page, we don't have any confirmation that we agreed to the earlier pages in the contract. Are all contract pages required to have an... View More

Michael Gerity
Michael Gerity
answered on Jul 28, 2017

You have just run into one of the main reasons why some contracts have spaces for initials on each page, and sometimes even on each paragraph. The presence of those initials makes it harder for any party to later make modifications to the overall contract (though certainly not impossible in this... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Business Formation for Arizona on
Q: How do you know if a name is available as my new business name?
Michael Gerity
Michael Gerity
answered on Jul 21, 2017

The easiest way to do this would be to perform a search on the Arizona Corporation Commission website, which you can find here: http://ecorp.azcc.gov/Search

This site pulls up not only company and corporation names, but it also searches the Secretary of State's website for trade names...
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1 Answer | Asked in Business Formation and Trademark for Arizona on
Q: Can my LLC have the same name as a trademarked name? It is in an entirely different industry and geographical location
Michael Gerity
Michael Gerity
answered on Jul 21, 2017

There are a lot of variables here that you have not provided, so understand that this answer is making some general comments that may not apply to your exact circumstance. So, in basic terms, multiple businesses can use the exact same name/trademark without conflict so long as there is not a... View More

1 Answer | Asked in Business Formation for Arizona on
Q: We are looking at forming a non-profit 501c in AZ, have heard there may be an advantage in forming a C-Corp 1st

We are looking at registering a non-profit 501c in AZ, and have heard there may be some advantage to registering as a C-Corp first, then converting to a 501c. Are there advantages to this approach? -Thanks!

Michael Gerity
Michael Gerity
answered on Jul 21, 2017

I think the first thing we need to do is to cover the difference between a "non-profit" corporation and one granted tax exempt status by the IRS (a 503(c)(3) non-profit), as they are technically different things. A corporation can be a non-profit without having tax exempt status. A... View More

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