Selecting A Form Of Entity For Doing Business

“The net income of the LLC is subject to this tax. The federal government does not recognize LLC as a business entity for taxation purposes, all LLCs must file as a corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship tax return. Certain LLCs are automatically classified and taxed as a corporation by federal tax law.” SBA. (2013)

Forming a business entity requires a great deal of knowledge before any decision is made. There are advantages and disadvantages to each entity and without proper understanding of what they are, individuals could make costly errors and forfeit crucial perks that would be in the businesses best interest. In the situation in New State, Alex, Bill, Carl, and Devon have inherited their father’s operating organic farm and seek advice, in regards to which form of business organization would best fit their particular criteria. They have emphasized their immediate concerns, wants and needs from a business standpoint, but also stress their strong faith to uphold and operate in accordance with the Christian worldview. Their criteria is as follows, (1) create an entity which averts formalities or complexities, (2) develop a structure allowing cousin Xavier to handle the day-to-day, (3) minimize taxes on the entity, (4) avoid any personal liability, (4) keep business in the family only, (5) remain in accordance with the Christian worldview, (which will be the final topic in this discussion). After reviewing all criteria, it will be advised that forming a limited liability company (LLC) and electing for an S corporation status would be of best interest for the family. Discussed below, is the strengths and weaknesses of each form of business organization as it applies to their unique situation, to help better understand why an LLC/S corporation, is the best form of

Sole Proprietorship Sole proprietorship is the most common form of business in the United States. It is a relatively simple way for an individual to start a business since legal costs and business requirements are minimal, and the owner has complete control over the business. Though a sole proprietor is not responsible for any corporate tax payments, the owner is responsible for taxes incurred on the income generated from the business as part of his or her personal income tax payments, and personally shoulders any other risks or obligations. A sole proprietor may also choose to file their business under a fictitious business name or a DBA (doing business as), allowing him or her to operate and market the business under a more typical

Income taxes- All income generated through a sole proprietorship is taxed by the Internal Revenue Service. This is reported on the owner's personal tax return.

A limited liability company consists of a single owner, or sometimes more than one owner, and are not taxed as separate business entities. All profits and losses pass through the business to those who own the company. Owners must report profits and losses on their personal tax return filing as a corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. If the LLC is ran by a single owner, they file a 1040 Schedule C form as a sole proprietor. Partners file a 1065 form consisting of a partnership, and a form 1120 is filed if the LLC is filing as a corporation. The LLC must be registered such as the State Corporation Commission, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, or the Division of Corporations and Commercial Code. The great thing about an LLC is that the owner has freedom in management. The owner is able to run the organization as they see fit not answering to anyone,

A sole proprietorship is a form of business that is owned by a single individual.  • Liability – Due to the lack of legal distinction between the owner and the business, the owner is fully responsible and liable for all debts that the business incurs in the same manner that an individual is fully responsible and liable for all debts that they incur. There is no legal distinction between the assets of the owner of the sole proprietorship and the business; this means that creditors have the ability to come after the owner’s business and personal material assets.   Income Taxes – Since the business is the same as the owner of the sole proprietorship, all profits or losses from the business are filed by the

INCOME TAXES – As a sole proprietor all business income or losses must be reported as personal income tax. The business itself is not taxed separately.

Income Taxes: The owner of a Sole Proprietorship pays taxes in the earnings of the company as personal income.

There are three types of business entities: sole proprietorship, partnerships, and corporations. Sole proprietorships are businesses owned by an individual person. They are easy to form, but are not taxed. Instead the individual business owner is taxed on any monies acquired on behalf of the business (Kubasek, 2012. Partnerships are businesses that are owned by more than one individual owners. The big thing about partnerships is that each partner is personally responsible for the acts of the other partners in the business . (Kubasek, 2012 Corporations are businesses owned by multiple people to include shareholders (Kubasek, 2012). They can sue and be sued and are subject to a host of rules and regulations set forth by the government.

Sole Proprietorship would give you complete control since you assume all the risks, which mean you get all the profits, but you also suffer all the losses and liabilities. There is little to no paperwork to be done with a sole proprietorship. You only pay personal income tax to include Social security. The business doesn’t have to file a tax return, but you are still liable for payroll, unemployment and compensation taxes (Clarkson, Miller, & Cross, 2016).

When an independent contractor earns compensation for providing services or doing work and is classified as a self-employed individual rather than an employee, this is considered to be independent contractor income. This type of income will listed on Form 1099-MISC, which is where other types of income is listed.

The corporation and stockholders have the tax burden in a corporation. In whole, from the owners’ point of view, it is more sensible to form a corporation that has a little more flexibility and less liability versus a partnership or sole proprietorship.

If you are a business owner, you cannot avoid filing tax returns. The process can be very complicated if you have multiple streams of income, complicated returns or you are planning to take several deductions. You will need to hire professional tax services if you want your taxes to be filed accurately. Even though you will get these services at cost, you will be assured of quality services. You will not be under a lot of stress when the tax season arrives if you are working with a professional.

A Social Security tax is paid on the first $106,800 of income that is earned but anything thereafter is not exposed to this tax. Taxes that are paid in for Social Security are most commonly known as going towards old-age benefits that are received when retirement age is met. It also goes towards survivors, such as the spouse or young children of someone who has passed, and disability insurance. The taxes paid in for Medicare go towards the medical insurance of those who are over the age of 65 or those who meet other decisive factor. The Medicare portion of the self-employment taxes is not subject to any restriction on earnings and as a result all earning will be accountable for this tax. (Internal Revenue Service, 2011)

When I went back to my notes that I took during the Taxation class and think about filing a tax return with IRS I see that there are a lot of similarities between individual tax and business tax. However, weighing individual and business tax on the same gauge will evince how much they are different from each other (Pack, n.d.). Individual taxation is a type of tax return filed by an individual for both single and married taxpayers whether they have dependents or not, they will file the tax returns on Form 1040. The Form 1040 indoctrinate tax filers for information on their filing status and number of dependents, the income section includes wages, salary, taxable interest, capital gains and other types of income. filers can claim deductions for expenses, education, moving expenses and many other categories.