Question
I want to have a startup, and I'm still in the idea phase. I 'm not planning to incorporate until I 'm done with the MVP or pretty close . My questions are -
- How can I report the money paid for this, like domain names, lawyer fees, graphic designers, software developers ..etc that was made before incorporation, as expenses for tax purpose?
- After incorporation, can I keep moving money FROM my personal account to the company business account, to cover more expenses and provide liquidity?
- If the initial deposit was not enough, and the revenues were delayed or not enough?
Answer
Hi,
In addition to the elaborate answer that Jason gave before me, I strongly advise that you make sure that all the Intellectual Property (IP) that you and/or your team are creating is assigned to the future company and that all involved have signed an IP waiver. If not, there are 2 main (and major) risks:
1. when you eventually do setup the company and transfer the IP to it, this will be considered as a tax event, which you might have to pay taxes for later on when you eventually sell the company to an investor (example: every time you get your salary, you pay taxes, because you are getting something of value - the salary. When you transfer the IP to the company - which is a separate legal entity - you are giving it something of value, like the salary, which creates a tax event).
2. If one of your team members leave, they are leaving with the IP rights to whatever they created.
I am happy to explain to you how you can and should avoid these two outcomes. The solution isn't complicated nor too costly.
Good luck
