Small-Business Legal Glossary

This glossary defines the US small-business legal terms you meet when forming a company, getting a tax ID, or filing taxes - each in plain language and each traced to a primary government source. Every term is defined once here and linked wherever it appears across LegalGlass.

Legal and tax terminology is a barrier for new business owners: the same concept often has several names, and definitions elsewhere are written to sell a service. Each entry below gives a short, neutral definition sourced from the IRS, a state Secretary of State, or the underlying statute on Cornell Legal Information Institute. Follow a term for its full definition and links to the guides that use it.

Terms

• EIN
• ITIN
• Registered Agent
• Articles of Organization
• Operating Agreement
• Franchise Tax
• Foreign Qualification
• DBA
• S Corp
• C Corp
• Responsible Party
• Certificate of Formation

How the Glossary Works

Each term is a standalone page marked up as a structured DefinedTerm, so both readers and automated systems can extract a clean, sourced definition. Definitions are held to the same standard as the rest of the site: primary-source citations, no interpolation, and effective-year stamps on any figure. See how we verify facts for the full standard.

Explore the Hubs

Ready for the full guides? Visit the EIN hub, the trademark hub, or the business-tax hub, or start with how to form an LLC.

LegalGlass provides general information for educational purposes and is not a law firm or a substitute for advice from a licensed attorney or tax professional. Laws and fees change; verify current requirements with the relevant government agency before acting.