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For 2005, you must file a Schedule C for
period of January 1 through February 28, when your business was still a Sole Proprietorship. And you must also file a corporate income tax return for March 1 through December 31.
Maybe that's no big deal. Maybe you enjoy filing one business income tax return so much, filing a second one doesn't bother you. And it may be that
inconvenience of filing two tax returns in 2005 is far outweighed by
legal and tax advantages of incorporating.
Keep in mind, too, that 2005 will be
only year you have to do this "double duty". In 2006 you will only have to file
corporate income tax return.
But if you are thinking about incorporating,
best time to do it, from a tax paperwork standpoint, is as of January 1. Only then do you have a "clean break" from
old sole proprietorship to
new corporation.
This timing issue can also be relevant if you decide to make
switch late in
year. If
effective date of
incorporation is November 15, you will have to file a Schedule C for January 1 through November 14, and a corporate return for November 15 through December 31. In that scenario, you should ask yourself, "Do
benefits of incorporating outweigh
convenience of waiting until January 1?"
So before you decide when to incorporate, take a moment to reflect on
tax reporting consequences of incorporating on January 1 vs. any other date.
Sometimes it may make sense to wait a few weeks (as in
second example), and sometimes it makes sense to "do it now", especially when January 1 is nearby.

Wayne M. Davies is author of 3 tax-slashing eBooks for the self-employed, available separately or as a 3-volume set, "The Ultimate Small Business Tax Reduction Guide". http://www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com/ultimate-guide
To get your free copy of Wayne's 25-page report, "How To Instantly Double Your Deductions" visit: http://www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com