Essay on Business Structure

| A sole proprietorship is easy to create; there is minimal creation cost and time.The single owner has autonomy in decision making; sole owner makes all decisions related to the business and has complete ownership of business’s finances.

When splitting the profits in a general partnership you are also splitting the income tax that needs to be paid. Depending on the profits of the business this may drop you into a lower tax bracket than if a single person had filed for all of the profits. This also drops the amount of income tax paid by each person resulting in lower individual taxes paid.

When it comes to partnerships Alex, Bill, Carl, and Devon will have two options- a general partnership or a limited partnership. Partnerships are beginning to be a business form of the past. Once upon a time, partnerships were “the default form of business and provided the benefit of pass-through taxation, but lacked the important feature of limited liability” (Chrisman, 2010, p. 465). In a general partnership, each partner associated with the entity will be held liable for their own business decisions as well as

Liability All liabilities are the responsibility of each partner. In the event of litigation, any creditors can go after the personal assets of each partner to recover any debt owed. But since liability is spread out between the owners, one may feel less risk is being taken. 2. Income Taxes General partnership may also benefit from pass-through taxation, meaning the partners are taxed like sole proprietors. Business income is reported on the personal tax filing while business losses can be deducted to reduce personal tax liability. The partnership itself is not subject to federal income tax. However the partnership needs to file an information return utilizing the IRS Form 1065. 3. Longevity or continuity of the organization Once the partnership agreement is fulfilled, the general partnership may dissolve. A buy/sell agreement may be included in the articles of the partnership to allow the

Sole proprietorship: Is the simplest and most common business structure. There is no legal distinction between the proprietor and the business, which means it is autonomous. You are entitled to all profits and responsible for all your business's losses and liabilities.

Even if the term of the Partnership has not expired, the Partnership may terminate by: (a) Unanimous agreement of the Partners; or (b) If Can Do becomes significantly incapacited; or (c) Election of a Partner when another Partner has breached this agreement.

Liability- The general partner would be liable for all unlimited responsibility on all tasks and debt, while the limited partner will not loss more than their investment.

This protects the limited partners from the full liability that is shared by the general partners.   Income Taxes – The limited partner’s profits are considered personal income and taxed as such. All profits from the limited partnership are considered personal income and taxed at their personal tax rates.  Longevity / Continuity – The continuity of the business is not affected by the death or disassociation of a limited partner.  An advantage for a limited partner is that the limited partner’s investment takes priority in the general partnership dissolves due to a death or disassociation of one of the general partners.

* Limited partnerships have the convenience of allowing multiple investors as limited partners to assist with cash available to run the business and support improvements or other investments into the company. The burden of running the business falls on the general partner.

Convenience/Burden: Limited Partnerships have extra requirements placed upon them to comply with state regulatory requirements. They must maintain a registered agent to represent them in the state in which they were formed. They are also required to file an informational report with the IRS of the profits passed to the general partners.

INCOME TAXES – This partnership is not subject to federal income tax. All earned and lost income from this business is taxable on the individual’s tax return.

A partnership is a business organization where the partners own the business together and are

To overcome this problem, the partnership may take on as many Sleeping (or Silent) Partners as they wish - these people will provide finance for the business to use, but will not have any input into how the business is run. In other words, they have purely put the money into the business as an investment. These Sleeping Partners face limited liability for the debts of the partnership. A partnership, just like a sole trader, is an unincorporated business. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a Partnership?

One major disadvantage of the partnership is taxation, partners will pay the tax same way as a sole trader. Therefore they will pay the corporation tax in addition to this they will have to pay income tax. Another disadvantage is liability partners are still subject to unlimited liability same with a sole trader if the business can’t pay its

Sole traders have unlimited liabilities,meaning that in terms of law there is no separation between them,hence the sole trader is also liable for the debts incurred within the business, which makes it very risky to run for a long-term.