what is the difference between corp, inc. or ltd after a company name?

Answer 1

nothing .... you can choose any of the three to indicate limited liability

Answer 2

Well, all the answers below are only partly correct. Here's the scoop.

First. There are several different "corporate forms". Corporate comes from the word "corpus" or body which indicates the business is actually an entity or person and is treated as such for taxes and legal purposes. Businesses 'incorporate' under different forms to create what is called the "corporate veil". The veil means that for all purposes the corporation is the "person" with whom you are doing business...not the shareholders, managers, etc.

Without a corporate veil, individuals would not be able to conduct business. All business is risky.. airlines, restaurants, etc and the good of society is served by providing an environment in which people can create businesses with risk without being held personally liable.

Second. Corporate forms are basically the C-corp and the C-corp with an S-election, or the now popular LLC. Partnerships and Sole-proprieterships are not corporations. the LTD designation is the same as Inc but is not legal in the US. It is used in England, Australia, New Zealand, HongKong, etc. In Germany they use GmbH and Italy uses SPA. They all mean the same thing... limited liability.

Third. If your business is a C-corp or S-corp you must (not as an afterthought) hold yourself out as being incorporated with the ",Inc" designation. Likewise, the ",LLC" designation (Limited Liability Corporation) must be tacked onto your corporate name. This puts all stakeholders on notice that they are dealing with a corporate entity and not an individual. IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS.. if you do not actively maintain your corporation and actively do business as a corporation, you can be held personally liable. This would not be a good thing.

Example. All correspondence from a corporation should be signed as if the corporation wrote the letter.. like this:

Sincerely,
Acme Bagwinders, INC


Joe Winder, President

This ensures that the recipient knows that he is dealing with the Bagwinder "Corporation" and not Joe Winder and that Joe is an officer of this corporation.

Hope this helps

Answer 3

every business has to have an official name, and that is registered with the secretary of state office where they are incorporated. Companies that use Corp or Corporation, is because that is part of the actual name, like "News Corp". Whereas Inc is added as after thought, especially if the business uses a persons name, "McDonnalds, Inc" to remind us that Mac himself is not responsible for company debts. Some limited liability professional corporations use Ltd in lieu of LLC as a matter of style, to sound more european. european companies registered in for business in the USA use the Ltd simply because that is part of the name they use in europe.

Answer 4

Co is in simple terms an company or company, the place as Ltd. is a public-limitted company/company, meaning that the corporate has bought vote casting shares, and subsequently if it would not extra suitable than 50% of that's very own vote casting shares, is open to a adversarial takeover.

Answer 5

corp... stock holders and lots of ownership with in the company.. money goes back into the company.
inc... business owners that have also stock owners... any profit goes to the owners and or company (very similar to corp)
Ltd.. owners that will not be liable for any debt should they default... profit goes directly to the owners

Answer 6

looks to me like they're all spelt differently!