These instructions are for a domestic corporation : A U.S. corporatio doing business in the state in which it is incorporated is considered a domestic entity.
1. Company Name. A corporation must have one of the following endings: Corporation, Incorporated, Company or Limited and may be an abbreviation of any of those endings.
2. Purpose. Each company must specify a purpose for organization. The State of Illinois will accept a standard purpose clause which is: "The transaction of any or all lawful businesses for which corporations may be incorporated under the Illinois Business Corporation Act of 1983, as amended".
3. Registered Agent. The address of the initial registered office and its initial registered agent. (Illinois Registered Agent is the most reasonable priced and reliable agent representation on the web!)
4. Incorporator. The name and address of your incorporator (Incorporator refers to the person filling out and filing the Articles of Incorporation forms).
5. Authorized Shares of Stock. The number and class or series of shares you intend to authorize and the consideration to be received for each class and share of stock. (Keep in mind that you will be paying franchise tax on the paid-in- capital from the initial issuance of stock. If you authorize 100 shares of stock at $1.00 per share, your franchise tax base will be $100.00. If you increase the value of the shares to $50.00 per share, your franchise tax base would then be $5,000.00).
6. Issued Shares of Stock. The number and class of shares you intend to issue and the consideration to be received for each class and share of stock.
7. Designation of Class of Stock. You only need to consider this if your shares are divided into classes, the designation of each class and a statement of designations, preferences, qualifications, limitations, restrictions or special or relative rights associated with that particular class of stock. (This type of designation is more complex and you may want to discuss with an attorney the implications of issuing various classes of stock.) If you are not issuing stock with specific classes, you will not need to address this issue in your Articles of Incorporation.
8. Series of Stock. You will only need to consider this if you are issuing preferred or special class in a series, then the designation of each series and a statement of the variations in the relative rights and preferences of the different series, if the same are fixed in the articles of incorporation, or a statement of the authority vested in the board of directors to establish a series and determine the variations in the relative rights and preferences of the different series. This too should be discussed with an attorney to understand the implications of issuing various class and series of stock.
