Small Business Planning

No. You could do what a lot of excited entrepreneurs do and go to LegalZoom or some other online document generation system. But, there are a lot of things to consider in starting a small business that only an attorney can help with. For instance, if you have partners, who takes over their portion of their business? Their spouse? Someone else? Online resources are find, but they can't replace an experienced business formation attorney.

An LLC is a type of business entity that shields its members from personal liability. In other words, if the company gets sued, the members' personal assets are protected under most circumstances. LLCs are by far the most popular entity choice for business owners today as they provide flexibility, relative simplicity, and numerous tax advanatages.

A partnership is an agreement between two or more people to enter into business together with the purpose of making money. It's really that simple. Partnerships can be created by filing with the Secretary of State's office, or they can be created without any documentation whatsoever as long as it can be proven that two people entered into business together to make money.

Corporations are business entities that shield the owners (the shareholders) from personal liability. What makes them different from LLCs, however, is that both the corporate entity is taxed and the shareholders are taxed. While that may seem like a disadvantage, corporations come with many many protections that even LLCs do not.

Many people think that an S-corporation is an entity type. It is not. Instead, entities can elect to be treated as an S-corporation (whether they are an LLC, partnership, or corporation) by tax purposes. S-corporations can be used to reduce self-employment and FICA taxes, but it is important that they are set up correctly from the start.