Setting up business

I am a wedding photographer and I am starting to get more and more business. I ran into an issue at the bank today with a check made out to Coffman Photography instead of to me personally. They have cashed checks like this before but I finally got someone who would not do it and said that I had to have something on file as a business to cash the check. I do weddings by myself and really don't make much money doing it. Do I need an EIN? What should I do about cashing checks like this or should I tell my clients I only accept checks made out to me personally? Thanks!

legalzoom.com


do research on what type of business(LLC, sole proprietorship) you want to form.

I want to form sole proprietership

entrefoto wrote in post #7662426
I want to form sole proprietorship

I don't know if anybody else would agree with me but I would say LLC. Reason being, if someone sues you, they can go after PERSONAL assets(cars,house) etc etc. With an LLC, they can only go after business assets. Go get insurance for your gear and liability

There are plenty of pros and cons to both setups

Do your research tho. It's very important.

I know at this stage I am fine with a sole proprietorship. Maybe in the future I will do LLC.

At my bank (Wells Fargo) you need a business account and a DBA filed with your business name, if you're getting checks that don't have your name on them.

Dave

All I did was open up a checking account under my business name. You don't need an EIN, just a social security number.

Its a very good idea to have a separate business checking account. It makes it very easy to track expenses and income for tax purposes. You really don't want to get into trouble with the IRS.