EIN, Bank Account, etc.

Get EIN

Apply for EIN with the IRS. You need to have a filing receipt to do this, mainly because you need the exact date of formation.

Other NYS Follow-ups

NYS Tax Department needs your EIN. For some reason, they have multiple forms in which they notify you of this need. These letters go to your registered agent, who will forward them to you. Whichever on you get, you should follow the instructions there.
- CT-198 Letter: This one seems to say call them with your EIN.
- TR-570 Letter. Fill it out and fax it back to them at the number indicated. Or, if you're living dangerously (as I did, unknowingly), upload it to the Dept. of Tax website (you'll have to make yourself a corporate account, which is separate from your business express account). Use the "respond to department notice" feature and select "other notice." Come back later and check that your EIN is correct. I have heard from a friend that someone at DOT told her you are not actually supposed to upload this particular notice. Insert shrug emoji here.
- DTF-95 form. See this item.
Worker's Comp and Disability. Go back into Business Express and follow the new business checklist - it will tell you to get the Worker's Comp and Disability exception out of the way (if you have no employees). May as well do it, because otherwise, they'll just send you letters. You need your EIN for this as well (If you DO have employees, you will have to get worker's comp and disability insurance at this point).

Get bank account

You will need a separate bank account for your company. I looked into this a good bit, both for cost and options outside traditional banks. Please note: some of the links below are promotional links that will give you a sign-up bonus. They're called out when used.

I specifically wanted to use a credit union and there are very few credit unions that offer business checking accounts. I chose to go with the Japanese American Civic League Credit Union (JACL-CU), which requires a $70 membership to join the JACL. Apply to JACL-CU after joining JACL (call - it's not obvious online how to do it). They will set you up with a business account. Also, the JACL newsletters are very good. JACL-CU has onine banking and a phone app. Credit unions have the same level of deposit protection via NCUA as commercial banks do via FDIC.

If being at a credit union isn't important to you, but you don't want a big commercial bank, I recommend looking around for a local CDFI; for example, Locus Bank (formerly Virginia Community Capital) offers a business MMA account (2% interest as of Dec 2023, though the website is a bit mysterious about how to get that ball rolling: email Tim Grimes). The only real difference between the MMA and a checking account is that you can't get checks (does anyone even write physical checks anymore?).

You could also look at Amalgamated or Carver as alternatives. Be forewarned: neither allow business accounts to be opened online. Amalgamated can be done via email (they are very responsive) and Carver requires two in-person visits (the calendar time between visits #1 and #2 can be lengthy).

If you are in a hurry and want to open an account ASAP online, Novo Bank (<-- referral link) and Bluevine are both great options in my experience. They are both fintechs that have depository banks as partners in the background to provide FDIC insurance. Novo seems to be leaning more into the "do your financial stuff in one place" angle -- you can, for example, send invoices out directly from Novo, which could be nice if you're not sending a lot of them and don't need or want a whole separate system like Wave or Quickbooks. Bluevine, on the other hand, offers cold hard cash -- currently 2% interest on their checking accounts, and because they have an institutional sweep program that provides up to $3M in FDIC protection, it could grow with you beyond your first $250k in the bank. They both also have sub-accounts and other nice features like that.

Get a Credit Card

As a solo consultant, I wanted to get a business credit card so I could segregate my business spending from my household spending and make my tax season tracking that much easier. I didn't look around much before going with Amex (<-- referral link).