Identify each legal entity, actual ownership rights and continuing operations. Use genuine records to clarify the relationship.
Avoid merging distinct businesses
Cooperation, common branding or personal trust does not establish every corporate condition.
The costs that surprise small family groups are the preparation costs rather than the fees: obtaining current share registers and beneficial ownership documents, preparing financial statements that may not exist in the form required, and assembling several years of payroll history. Start with the ownership chain: certificates of incorporation for each entity, current share registers or membership schedules, and the purchase agreement and closing documents for the American operation, so that a reader can trace control from one company to the other without inference. The file needs the underlying records: share registers for the holding company and each operating company, showing percentages and dates; the minute book entries recording any change; and, for the acquired U.S. business, the purchase agreement and the post-closing register showing the group as owner. The managerial or executive character of the duties is carried by an organisational chart naming subordinates with their own titles and qualifications, by a written job description, and by evidence of decisions actually taken — approved budgets, signing authorities, hiring and dismissal records.