Need Help Planning Your Business Structure? Matt Garrett Partners with SBDC @ UCI Beall Applied Innovation to Help!

On July 11, TGG’s founder and CEO, Matt Garrett partnered with SBDC @ UCI Beall Applied Innovation to discuss the ways you can grow your business through entity structure and formation. Being a business owner is one of the greatest achievements in Matt’s life and he has created a business structure that aligns with his mission and vision for TGG. There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding opening your own business, how can you create a business structure that will succeed for years into the future?

First, begin with your vision. What are you doing? Where are you headed? Move into the mission, why are you doing what you’re doing? The mission for your business is greater than yourself. The people that you bring in are the key to your success in acting on this mission. Once you’ve described your vision and mission, move into your strategy. Create action to build upon this foundation.

The entity structure you choose is an extension of your mission and culture for the business you want to build. There are a few structures to consider when opening your own business. How can you decide what structure will fit your mission and vision?

Before you decide what structure you want to move forward with, consider what makes up each structure in terms of flexibility, control, taxes, liability protection, and investors.

C Corp:

Flexibility and Control: Your business is not you, you don’t have personal liability. This is a company, you will have shareholders, with no restrictions on what shareholders you can bring in. 

Taxes: With taxes, there are more challenges, federally you will have a rate of 21%, there may be additional state rates that will affect your bottom line. If you want to take more money out, you must take it out as a dividend. There are double layers of tax.  There are even more tax implications when you decide to sell the company. If you want to take money out of your company you can only take it out as a loan, as a salary (with payroll taxes), or as dividends (with additional taxes).

Liability Protection: C Corps have the protection of liability for shareholders.

Investors: With a C Corp, you can have as many partners you want, and they can be of any kind– foreign, corporate, etc.

S Corp:

Flexibility/ Control: You are only able to have 100 shareholders. The shareholders have to be individuals and citizens of the United States. 

Taxes: There is only one layer of tax, so you only pay taxes as if you were in a partnership or LLC. You can limit your salary, within reason, because you can pull out distributions without payroll tax or dividend taxes. In California, there are additional net profit taxes on S Corporations, which are around 1% of net profit.

Liability Protection: Liability wise it is the same as a C Corporation. It is important to note with both structures that if you do not keep your corporate structures up, you may open yourself up to personal liability.

Investors: Consider what kind of shareholders you want, as there are more limitations surrounding S Corp investors. They must be U.S citizens, they must be individuals, etc.

LLC:

Flexibility and Control: These are the most flexible of all the structures. You can work with multiple partners and you can get very flexible with how you get investors.

Taxes: There is a gross receipts tax on LLCs up to $12,000 regardless of your income for the year. If you are an owner and active participant in an LLC, you must pay self-employment taxes on your share of the earnings inside of an LLC. However, you can elect to be taxed like a partnership or an S corp so you can eliminate potential double taxation 

Liability Protection: In an LLC you are legally protected like a C and S Corp, so you can be separated from your business in terms of liability. However, there are some situations where you may be personally liable on debts, like deferring your payroll under the PPP.

Investors: You can have all different shareholders, they are called members. There are regular members that act as shareholders and there are managing members that have a say in what’s going on within the company. There is more flexibility with your members, you can have different classes, different types of members, etc. 

Partnership:

Flexibility and Control: This could just be two people, which is called a general partnership. Or it could be a limited partnership. A limited partnership has one general partner that is in control of the company and carries all the liability, it also has limited partners that have no liability, but also no voting rights or control in the company. A partnership can have as many limited partners as it wants.

Taxes: There is only one layer of tax, like an LLC and S Corp, so there is no threat to double taxation. 

Liability Protection: The liability for partnerships falls onto the general partner, all limited partners have no liability in their investment.

Investors: You can have any kind of investor you want, but they hold no control when it comes to decision making for your company.

Sole Proprietorship:

Flexibility/ Control: It’s all your cash, your money going in and out. This structure is completely in your control. 

Taxes: You file your business taxes on a Schedule C. There is no distinction between your business and yourself for tax purposes, which means all your income is subject to income tax.

Liability Protection: A sole proprietorship has no legal liability protections, all liability falls onto the individual.

Investors: You do not have multiple owners.

As you consider these options, try to align your vision into these structures. If you believe your startup will gain traction early on, and be bought out in a few years, a C Corp might be your best option. If you want to avoid a double layer of tax, an S Corp or LLC might be a better option. Consider these structures along with your mission and vision for your business and then begin to move forward with your organization. 

Need help understanding where your business might be headed in the near future? Contact us today to receive a free 15-minute assessment of your financials!

This post was reviewed by our team of accounting and financial experts. TGG’s mission is to make business owners’ lives better through excellent financial management. We strive to provide the most up-to-date and objective information on accounting-related topics so our readers can make informed decisions based on factual content. All posts undergo a review process with at least one member of our Leadership Team to ensure accuracy.

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