Good afternoon.   I would like to thank boston.com for hosting this event, specifically Jesse Nunes.    My background is in Public Accounting and I am a partner at a audit and tax firm in Braintree.

Getting to Fred's comment, which  I have prematurely published.   When starting a business, the business start up costs are generally capitalized  and amortized over a period of 180 months.   These costs typically include the cost to incorporate, initial legal and filing fees, permits, etc.   Once your business   begins its operations (typically sales have begun) you can expense most  all of your business costs.    The biggest question is when do you think the business has begun operations, which is a bit gray.   When in doubt, I would assume operations have begun to get the deductions now as opposed to later.

I do not know the facts around your situation as some cases are unique.   That being said, most companies now are going with the LLC structure in setting up their businesses.   It gets the single level of taxation at the federal level and the liability protection that most are looking for.

Initial investments will typically come from personal investments, family and friends.   There is also an initial market from angel investors.   However, once your bring in angel investors, you  can  start to lose some control of the company (since these people will want to have some levels of protection).   Ideas and concepts will not typically get any financing from a bank.