[wheresmyusern]

can anyone give me advice? im starting a small online service that will charge customers -- i guess you could call it a "saas." i am the only person whatsoever involved with this project. am i required to incorporate if i start charging people for my online service? do i have to file taxes as a business? isnt there a clear and straightforward guide for this kind of thing?

[pdshrader]

Lawyer here, but not your lawyer. We're just talking about generalized nonspecific hypotheticals here.

You aren't required to incorporate at all (but in many cases it's the best course for mitigating risk). People start businesses all the time without forming a separate entity. However, in the eyes of the law, that means that you and your business are one and the same. So if the business does a Bad Thing, you as an individual are responsible for all of the consequences of such Bad Thing. Similarly with taxes, all of the business' income gets attributed to you as an individual. Most people don't want these two things to happen, so they form an entity. You can go without, but it comes with significant risk, and you may end up forfeiting favorable tax treatment as a result.

These same issues get more complicated as soon as you involve others. Talk to your accountant. And consider what your risks are and how much your business is going to make. Find legal assistance for small businesses, or talk to a business lawyer as soon as you can.

[s73v3r_]

You would want to talk to a lawyer (which, if you are starting a business, you will want to have one), but you are not required to incorporate your business if you don't want to. However, incorporation does offer several benefits, which is why some people choose to do it.

[wheresmyusern]

this is what frustrates me. i cant afford a lawyer. from the looks of it, i cant afford to incorporate either. how is anyone supposed to bootstrap themselves these days?

[s73v3r_]

Same way you'd bootstrap if you needed developers, and couldn't afford to hire developers. You can either study and try to do it yourself, you can offer equity (although lawyers are generally smarter than developers in this area, and few will take just equity, but you might be able to find someone), or you do it the old fashioned way and get a small business loan from a bank.

Although, as has been said, you don't need an LLC if your business is not "there" yet.

[jjeaff]

You definitely do not need a lawyer. And you don't need an LLC either. Both of which are definitely "premature optimization".

If you are in the US, you can just use your SSN and sign up directly with your payment processor as a sole proprietor.

If things take off, you can start worrying about talking to a lawyer. You really won't have any reason to form an LLC until you need to hire real employees (W-2 employees).