Professional Corporations

Most states have special requirements for forming a corporation whose owners will provide state-licensed professional services. These corporations are then known as professional corporations. The list of particular professions to which these rules apply varies from state to state, but typically the following professions must follow these special rules when they incorporate.

• lawyers,
• doctors,
• other health care professionals,
• accountants,
• engineers, and
• architects
• Other professionals ranging from acupuncturists to massage therapists may also be included.

A more comprehensive professional corporations business lists or a list of the types of professional corporations that may have to incorporate under special rules are shown below. The professionals on this list must incorporate as professional corporations, rather than as regular business corporations, in many states:

• Accountant
• Acupuncturist
• Architect
• Attorney
• Audiologist
• Clinical social worker
• Dentist
• Doctor (all medical doctors including surgeons)
• Marriage, family, and child counselor
• Nurse
• Optometrist
• Osteopath (physician or surgeon)
• Pharmacist
• Physical therapist
• Physician’s assistant
• Podiatrist
• Psychologist
• Shorthand reporter
• Speech pathologist
• Veterinarian