1
Part A
Sole Proprietorship
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
…show more content…
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.
•
•
3 • Control – A major disadvantage of the limited partnership becomes obvious when discussing the actual management of the general partnership. Limited partners have no control of the day-to-day operations of the general partnership. Profit Retention – The limited partner receives an agreed portion of the profits that typically reflects the percentage of the amount that has been invested into the general partnership. Location – If the general partners expand or move into another state, the burden of regulatory requirements is solely on the general partners and not the limited partners. If the partners plan to move or expand into another state, they simply need to file a new DBA in that state. Convenience / Burden – A
| In a sole proprietorship, the business and single owner are one in the same. A single owner makes all decisions with regard to the business and the single owner retains all profits earned by the business. The single owner is also responsible/liable for all debts and obligations of the business on a personal level.
Income Taxes: The owner of a Sole Proprietorship pays taxes in the earnings of the company as personal income.
A limited liability company protects each partner from personal liability for certain obligations of the company. An important difference from other partnerships is that each partner is liable for the debts and obligations of the partners. With limited liability Company, each state has its own laws governing partners for these vessels. Some states allow only certain professions, such as lawyers and accountants to form LLP. Some states only provide protection from liability for negligence claims, leaving personally responsible for other types of requests partner. For tax purposes, profits are divided equally between the partners and the partnership is not taxed separately.
Longevity/Continuity- The partnership would keep operating outside of the limited partner's death, as per usual, however, if a general partner dies, and the agreement hasn't covered the possibility of their death and also agreed that the business will keep running past the death of a general partner, the partnership will immediately dissolve.
Sole proprietorships are the most common type of business in the U.S. They are most commonly chosen because they are the easiest type of business to set up and give the sole owner of the company complete control of the company. There are many benefits to a sole proprietorship in regards to control, profit retention, and convenience.
Changing the way you structure your business can be a frightening endeavor. You have been operating as a Sole Proprietorship for quite some time now, but it appears you have outgrown that business type. You have expressed a need to scale the business as well as a concern for your own personal liability. With those concerns in mind as well as the current state of your business, I recommend restructuring the business into a Limited Liability Company. I will try and address each of your concerns individually and explain how I came to this conclusion.
Income Taxes - a limited partnership is a flow-through entity. Profits and losses will go
Sole Proprietorship: A type of business that is owned by and run by one person with no legal difference between the business and the owner. It is easy to form with no cost or time to initiate. It gives the owner the ability to self-govern the business. There are drawbacks; only one owner can be established not allowing a partner. Also, unlimited liability puts the owner’s personal assets in jeopardy with the creditors.
Proprietorships have three advantages: they are easy and inexpensive to form, subject to few regulations, and no corporate income taxes. The disadvantages are difficult to raise capital, unlimited liability and limited life. Partnership are similar to proprietorships in that they can be stablished relatively easily and inexpensively. The partners are generally subject to unlimited personal liability, this makes it difficult for partnerships to raise large amount of capital. Corporation also have unlimited lives, and easy transfer of ownership, limited liability and ease of raising capital to operate larger businesses. The disadvantages are double taxation, the corporation’s earnings are taxed; and then when its after-tax earnings are paid out as dividends, those earnings are taxed again as personal income to the stockholders. Limited liability reduces the risks endure by investors; and other things held constant, the lower the firm’s risk, the higher its
Yes, it is not always necessary for limited partnerships to dissolve if one general partner dies as long as there is one other general partner. If there is provisions of the partnership agreement permit the business of the limited partnership to be carried on by the remaining general partner, and that partner does
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
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.
• LIABILITY – All liability rests in the sole proprietors shoulders. There is no hiding from liabilities of the company for the owner, nor is the business sheltered from liabilities of the proprietor. • INCOME TAXES – Since the owner and his/her business are one in the same, all income is then treated as personal income to the
The advantages to the sole proprietorship are single control over the business and its decisions, easy to start up, less regulations and paperwork burden that the other types of business. The disadvantages are unlimited liability for their company debts and actions. The law does not recognize any distinctions between the owner’s business assets and personal assets. Banks are very skeptical about lending to these types business because there is only one person to hold liable for repaying the debt.
Firstly, even though there are different types of partnership such as general, limited and limited liability partnership. This three different type has its advantages and disadvantages however we will be mainly focused on general partnership. One advantage of the general partnership is raising capital due to the nature of the business the partners will raise capital to start-up the business. Therefore more partners mean more capital can be put to the business, this allows the business to have more potential for growth and profitability. Another advantage is that a partnership is less complicated to form and run than a company they don’t have legal filing requirements, this means they don’t have to file accounts and documents with Companies House.