It’s been a while since posting an update. First, there is less than a month left before I graduate from school. My midterm grades were good. I’m also starting to pursue jobs. I’m interviewing soon with TrustBearer Labs. I’ve also been in touch with some industry contacts I have about positions in their companies. Some school friends and I have also been having weekly brainstorming meetings in the pursuit of starting our own company. There’s a lot of considerations affecting the legal organization and taxation of the business. Besides, the financials, there’s a lot of planning in coming up with a product or service that you can have reasonable confidence about being successful. And it all starts with perhaps the hardest part: coming up with a name. Anything you do as a company should be in the name of the company, and if you do business under a name other than your own, you need to register your business name in the county where you base your business.

I’ve completed my income tax return for 2009. This return was more complicated than in the past since a portion of my work has been in a self-employed situation. For that reason, I opted to have a professional tax preparer review it before submitting it. The experience does help me understand better how to manage financial information in the case of the business we’re looking to create. There’s basically two types of business arrangements: informal and formal. The informal arrangements are sole proprietorship and general partnership. The taxation of both arrangements is part of your typical income tax return. On the other hand, formal arrangements like corporations get taxed separately in addition to being taxed on your income from the corporation.