【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】 [听力原文]
   M: Hello, I'm Mike Yowls. Joining us today is Alice Smith, CEO of MyBusiness.com. MyBusiness.com. is an advocate for the protection of personal and business assets. Alice has a great deal of experience in the startup and entrepreneurial industries. Now, Alice, I know MyBusiness.com. does a lot of incorporating in LLCs, that is, Limited Liability Company, but I know there's a lot more to the business. Would you mind telling us a bit about it?
   W: MyBusiness.com. is an online legal filing service. We incorporate and form LLCs for small businesses, and our goal is to go beyond just forming the business but also to provide a package or a bundle that creates a scenario where a small business can come to us and feel like they're getting more than just the incorporation.
   M: In your opinion, what's the right point in time for an entrepreneur to create a legal business entity? Is it right when the idea comes to mind, or should it be further down the line when the idea is more solidified and ready to go to market?
   W: Well, my perspective is that before you go into business and start selling products or services, it's important to incorporate or form an LLC. Really the incorporation process doesn't have to happen when you're coming up with your idea, because you're not actually out there accepting money and having somebody invest in it. But that's not necessarily the case when you're having investors or people that are buying assets in your business or interested in investing in your business. So with that said, when you have an investor—that's the prerequisite, then you really need to incorporate and think of an LLC right from the beginning, because when you start selling ownership and trust in your business, then you need to have some sort of form or entity from what you sell.
   M: How does someone know if what they're doing is just a hobby where they're making money or if they should make it more official and form a business around it?
   W: A lot of times when it's just kind of a side hobby, and then you start making money, it becomes quite obvious when you need to evolve it to a business as you start getting checks for your new product or service. And you have to take it to the bank. The bank says, "well, is this your business?" It's not under your specific personal name. It's under a business name, and the bank requires that you have an account in that name. So with that, you have to incorporate because the bank requires incorporation papers in order to open an account. So that's sort of a practical reason. But the emotional reason is, hey, I'm giving up my other jobs, and this is becoming more full-time than I had anticipated. That's sort of the emotional position at which a lot of people identify that they're no longer just a hobby.
   M: Alice, what are some of the mistakes you've seen business owners make when forming their corporations?
   W: A lot of times when people form corporations they think that they need to define the type of entity from the very beginning; they need to be sure it's an S corporation or a C corporation. The reality is that if you're formed, you can make changes and adjustments along the road. Many changes are based on your taxes and accounting, what sort of income and revenue your business is generating. So those are changes down the road. You don't need to make all of those decisions right from the beginning. A lot of times entities form as an S corporation, and then over time they no longer qualify as an S corporation, and so they need to begin to re-distinguish themselves as a C corporation and withdraw their S corporation election.
   M: Other suggestions you have for startup business owners, Alice?
   W: Sometimes people get so worried about making their tax decision or making their incorporation strategy so perfect from the beginning that they don't incorporate at all, and that's not the solution. Protecting your personal assets and saving on taxes are critically important from the beginning, so it's important to incorporate, talk to your accountant for the best strategy as it stands today, and then know that you can evolve that. You can even file a conversion from a corporation to an LLC. You can withdraw, as I mentioned, your S corporation status. There are lots of variables that you can add in or make changes to, based on your tax situation or your economic situation.
   What is the prerequisite for opening a business?