“Doing Business” Requires More than an Employee and an Office
In Doing Business in CA? Be Sure to Register, I wrote that an out-of-state corporation that “enter[s] into repeated and successive transactions of its business in [California] other than interstate or foreign commerce” must register with the Secretary of State as a foreign corporation, and that a penalty for failing to do so is being precluded from maintaining actions in California courts. A recent case in the US District Court for the Northern District of California (Jarzab v. KM Enterprises) provides an example of what does not constitute “repeated and successive transactions”.
Re-incorporation Won’t Save Amazon Affiliate from Termination
This post is based on a question that I answered on LawPivot: Q. I have a web business that has been adversely affected by the termination of Amazon’s affiliate program in California, where I currently run the business, resulting from the state’s new sales tax law. Does each state have its own requirements as to what constitutes “doing business” in that state, and is there any way I could maintain CA as my primary place of residence, were I to incorporate in a different state?
When “Doing Business” isn’t “Doing Business”
Significant responsibilities or liabilities can depend on whether one is “doing business” in a state. As this post explains (principally referring to California law for examples), “doing business” can mean three different things in three different contexts.
Doing Business as a Foreign Entity
First, an out-of-state entity will need to register with a state as a “foreign” entity if it is doing business in the state. As explained in “Doing Business in CA? Be Sure to Register”, the term used in the California Corporations Code is to “transact intrastate business”, which is defined as “entering into repeated and successive transactions of its business in this state, other than interstate or foreign commerce” (emphasis added). (more…)
Doing Business in CA? Be Sure to Register
Sometimes California-based entrepreneurs think that they can avoid CA registration fees and taxes by forming their business entities in another state. Usually, that belief is incorrect. If the entity is doing business in CA, then it must register with the CA Secretary of State, even if the entity was formed elsewhere.
Section references and content below have been updated to reflect California’s new LLC law that took effect on January 1, 2014 (see RULLCA Brings New LLC Laws to California in 2014). (more…)
