Starting over?

[Patrick Johnson]

Hello all, I'm new to the board and am impressed with it. Hello Phil and Grassmaster and Roscoe. I see a few familiar faces here...

Is it possible to re-start your business? I made some accounting mistakes first starting out that have been a monkey on my back for about four years. I think it will take quite a while to get caught up. I wish I knew then what I know now!!

What I would like to know is can I go out of business and re-start with a slightly different name? Or start over and go incorporated or LLC? This would at least help my finances for the new business and have a fresh start.

What would happen to the debt of the old business? (less than 10k) I have a "DBA" business. Doing Business As..."Company Name"
Would I have to go bankrupt ?

I am very confident in running my business now and am on the right track but it seems to be a really long track and I'd jump at the chance to "start over".

I could stick with it and eventually be alright but if I had the chance...

Suggestions would so helpful. Thanks!

[Phil Nilsson]

reply

Sure,
Just start again under a different name, open new account (or change account name) with the bank, refile for a new Federal I.D. follow all the same steps set up the first time. You are probably "bound" personally with debt of the orig bizz, let the old bizz simply fizzle out, file last tax returns under old name, file as well under a new name, same as if you had two companies running at the same time.

Going bankrupt not a good idea since this will impair ability to finance equipment and get working capital loans.

[Scaper-S2k]

reply

I agree to some extent here Phil. More info and possibly one on one is needed to decide.

Going by the info given, it seems a bit much to go through all of that simply because of a $10k biz debt. Especially if the owner is still going to be responsible for paying it. I think it could be handled just as easy without all the name changes and new ID numbers.

Patrick ole buddy, that is going to be a tough call. Being that you will still be responsible for the debt personally, you may need to do more than just let the biz fizzle out.

More info would be needed, but maybe not here?

Good luck buddy, hope all goes well. It may be an easier fix than you think.

[Terry]

reply

Sure you can change your name and become INC or LLC, but your existing debt will remain as is until its paid off. This is that I assume the debt is in YOUR name.

If you is looking to get rid of the debt then you could file for bankruptcy. But then you won't be able to buy that hot new walk behind!