Do I need to incorporate?

[LEGACY]

When Starting a fastpitch team do I need to incorporate or is Insurance enough?
Need some ideas for insurance. Years ago ran a men's slowpitch team and used
to get an insurance policy from Bollinger.
This is not going to be an "A" team, just a local league team maybe playing in a
couple of tournaments.

 

[sluggers]

If there were are two or more teams in your organization, then incorporate. If there is just one, it doesn't matter.

Reason: With or without a corporation, the coaches are always responsibile if something goes wrong on the team. Usualy, the insurance will cover the injury, so the coach is safe. The only time the coach isn't safe is if the coach does something so insane that the insurance voids the coverage (e.g., sexual abuse). So, you really don't get anything from incorporating: For normal, run-of-the-mill problems, the insurance covers you. For crazy problems, with or without a corporation, you don't have any protection anyway.

But, in an organization with more than one team, anyone within the organization could be held liable for the insane actions of someone else in the organization UNLESS the organization was incorporated. So, incorporation protects you from the acts of the coaches on the other teams.

 

[Ken Krause]

When I started my new team I tried to open a bank account. The bank manager advised incorporating as a not-for-profit first. She said it would protect me and simplify accounting. So that's what I did. In Illinois it's easy - I did it online in about 15 minutes and paid $79 total.

You may not need to, but as they say in Casino, "Why take a chance?"

 

[LEGACY]

Ken,
do you need to fill out taxes every year then. I am not planning, at least in the
beginning of having a huge amount of cash. We are talking a fee for the league,
Insurance, and 3 or 4 tournaments.

 

[Ken Krause]

Yes, you will have to file some sort of tax return. One of the parents on my team is an accountant so I've enlisted her to help me.