The importance of cross checking the claims of your shelf corporation seller is very high when you want to buy a company that is already formed. Many people want to use shelf corporations because it saves time. It gives a ready company with a past. But sometimes sellers give information that is not fully correct. If you do not check what the seller says, problems can happen later. This is why checking every detail is very important.
Some people think buying shelf corporations is a simple task. They hear from sellers that the company is clean and has good standing. The seller says the company is old and never used. But how can you be sure this is true? You must ask for proof. You need to see documents like tax filings, annual reports, and certificates from the state. These papers will tell if the company was really in good standing every year. If even one filing is missing, the company is not as good as the seller says.
There are sellers who say their companies are aged, but they may only be old by registration. These companies may have stopped filing for some years and started again later. This is not the same as a true aged company. Buyers should check with government records to see if the company stayed active without a break. If the company was closed and restarted, it can be a problem later when you try to get a bank account or apply for a license. A company’s age must be clean and continue without gaps to be useful.
Another reason to cross check seller claims is to avoid hidden problems. Shelf corporations are usually sold with the promise of no past activity. But sometimes, small activity did happen. Maybe the company had a bank account, or someone used it for a short time. Even if it looks like nothing big, it can cause trouble if there were any money issues or unpaid bills. The new owner can get stuck with these problems. That is why it is not safe to just trust the seller’s word. You must ask if the company was ever used and ask for proof to see the history.
When looking at aged corporations for sale, many sellers talk about the company’s age like it is the most important thing. They say the company is ten or fifteen years old. But if that age comes with bad records or no filings in the middle years, then the age is not real value. Buyers should ask for proof that the company filed reports and stayed active in all those years.
Some sellers are not bad people, but they do not keep all the documents. Maybe they lost some papers or did not check the records well. So, the buyer must be careful even when the seller looks honest. Do not depend only on what they say or on the summary of the company. Ask for the original files. Check with state records or other databases to be sure.
