Understanding the Business Category

The Business category is for a business your family owns — an LLC, a corporation, a partnership, or a sole proprietorship. It might be a consulting practice, the company that holds a rental property, a family farm, or a side business.

It's worth keeping separate from the other companies in your account. Your insurance company and your electric utility are businesses too, but you don't own them — those live in Contacts. Shares in a publicly traded company belong with the investment or retirement account that holds them, over in Finance. This category is for businesses that are yours.

Part ownership still counts. If you hold a stake in a private business alongside other people, it belongs here — there's a place on the record for who owns what share.

If you weren't around, whoever stepped in would need to know the business exists, who owns it, where the formation documents are, and what its tax ID is. That's usually the hardest thing for a family to piece together after the fact, and it's exactly what this record saves them from.

The easiest way is to upload a document and let Trustworthy do the work. Formation paperwork is the best place to begin, since it establishes the business itself:

• Articles of incorporation

• LLC operating agreement

• Partnership agreement — general, limited, LLP, or LLLP

Two more that fill in the details:

• The EIN assignment letter (the IRS letter confirming your Employer Identification Number)

• A Schedule K-1, from either a 1065 or an 1120-S — this is the one that shows your ownership share

You don't need all of them, and you don't need to start with the most complete one. A single operating agreement is enough to get the business on the board.