We advise our clients on the most beneficial and appropriate form of entity under which to operate its business or own real estate. The choices are many and include a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, limited partnership, professional corporation or professional limited liability company. Although this decision is typically made at “start-up”, it can also occur later by “conversion” from one form of entity to another. Choice of Entity is an unrelated and separate issue from an entity’s tax election. While most of our clients choose to form their entity under Florida law, we also have experience with both corporations and limited liability companies organized under other state law, including Delaware, New York, Georgia, Nevada, and Texas.
As mentioned above, once an entity form is selected, we then advise clients on how the entity will be taxed. Most of the entities described above have multiple options for their tax election. For most businesses, the choice will be a “pass-through” entity which will either be an S corporation or partnership. A “pass-through” entity does not pay income taxes on its earnings. Instead, the earnings are “passed through” to the owners who report and pay the income tax on their personal income tax return. We have extensive experience in these matters and can guide you through the myriad of choices you have on both entity selection and taxation.
In connection with advising clients on Choice of Entity, we also discuss with our clients, matters such as insurance, employment matters, contracting, licensing, sales tax, accounting and finance. We do see many clients that have tried to do these things on their own, only to come to us when a problem has arisen. Our value comes with the experience of having formed hundreds of businesses and being aware of the unique issues that may arise with each.