@luciebcus,

I held off on doing anything when I was just starting up. We then got a gig w/Sun and they sent over a scary 37 page contract. That’s when I lawyered up.

We went C corp, but have since switched to an S corp. Wish I could tell you why, but apparently it’s better for taxes. But that’s my wife’s department. She’s the brains of the organization.

Ah, yes – protecting personal assets. I had a long lecture from an asset-protection lawyer about a year ago, which drove me into creating a Family Limited Partnership that owns the Limited Liability Company I created. Why? Well, here’s how I heard it: if you’re sued, FLPs have a very advantageous characteristic in law, that any award against you cannot be for the FLPs assets, but only from the dividends. So, if the plaintiff wins, they get only what the FLP decides will be the dividend each year, but they have to pay tax on the full amount. Since the trustees of the FLP have absolute authority over those dividends and could assign all of the notional gains to “expenses” (salary, healthcare, transport etc etc etc), there might be no dividend whatsoever. Which makes you a very unattractive target for legal action! As an aside to all this, I’ve basically put all of my property into this FLP, which has an entirely separate advantage: when I walk under that bus, my FLP specifies exactly who gets what, and who gets to take over the FLP, but this “will” (because that’s what it amounts to) doesn’t have to be filed in the same way, so it doesn’t become a matter of public record. I have loads of documentation, but you’d best consult your own asset-protection lawyer …

I hosted a show on my online radio station called The Advisors where I interviewed many of the important advisors a business owner should have on their team.  My attorney did a great episode call “Why The Heck Do You Need A Business Attorney?” and he nicely breaks down the differences of LLC, S Corp and Sole Proprietorship as entities.  I highly recommend you listen in if you have the time!  Hope this helps;-)

First, its important to know that all U.S. federal law will be the same in each state, but each state’s laws may vary according to what you set up. If you are by yourself, with no investors, a sole proprietorship or an LLC may each be advanteageous. If you have family or partners, an LLC or a partnership might be your best arrangement. Lawyers, accountants and other local businesspeople that you can trust should continue this dsiiscussion with you. At Emma’s Family Farm we chose

I went with S Corp as well but because I heard about the good taxes.  But (after messing my taxes up the first year by doing them myself) I got a tax accountant the second year and she said it was good to go with an LLC until you got to about 50-80,000 gross income and then switch to S Corp.  Not sure of all the implications, just passing along my small bit of info