It can be an exciting experience to start a new business. It gives you a fresh start and a unique chance to start your life. Of course, establishing a business is not as easy as it may sound. You have to make a few legal decisions to develop your business.
There are many kinds of business entities. However, a Limited Liability Company (LLC) is one of the most commonly used business structures. That is because LLC protects its members from unlimited liability and provides many tax benefits.
An llc Illinois separates the personal and business finances of LLC members. As a result, all members enjoy tax advantages and also benefit from reduced paperwork.
If you are planning to form your business structure, here are a few benefits that can convince you to choose an LLC.
1. Limited Personal Liability
Most beginners in business prefer sole proprietorship and their business structure. That is because sole proprietorship gives all the rights to the owner, meaning they will own all profits. But what makes it undesirable is its unlimited liability.
Yes, owners enjoy all the profits but have to cater to all losses, which affects their personal assets too. You will not want to be in the same situation as a business owner.
Limited Liability Companies establish their members as separate entities from their business. This way, your personal assets remain unaffected even if your business goes bankrupt. LLCs are required to create different bank accounts for this very reason.
And it’s not just about the money; LLC protects your business’s reputation too. For example, if an LLC member gets accused of negligence or sued by a person or company, your personal assets will remain unhindered due to limited liability.
2. Reduced Paperwork
Now that we have discussed the limited liability offered by the LLC structure, you may think about other business structures that provide the same benefits. For example, the corporation’s business structure also offers its members limited liability, but there are many other disadvantages to this business structure.
Although they may seem the same, you must remember that corporation structure requires a lot of paperwork, such as summit reports, a record of members, and minutes of meetings. On the contrary, LLC structures are neither supposed to have annual conferences nor keep extensive records.
This way, LLC saves the time and resources of your company and ensures that your functions keep running smoothly.
3. Tax Advantages
Yes, there are so many options to select your business structure from. However, when it comes to tax advantages, no other business structure can compete with LLC. LLCs are not required to have a federal tax classification, meaning they have pass-through taxation.
It means that LLCs in any state are free to choose their tax status according to the benefits in their form. If not selected, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) automatically classifies an LLC as a partnership or sole proprietorship, depending on the number of owners.
Pass-through taxation allows LLCs not to pay any corporate taxes. Instead, the income and expenses pass to the owner’s personal tax returns. This way, the owners are required only to pay personal income tax on the business’s profits.
4. Flexible Ownership
All business structures have different levels of flexibility. The most important factor that counts in terms of flexibility is the number of shareholders. For example, the S Corporation business structure does not allow its members to have more than 100 shareholders.
On the contrary, there are very few limits for LLC members. There is no limitation on the number of members in an LLC.
In addition, many business structures do not allow foreigners to become a part of a business. Meanwhile, the LLC business structure has no such restrictions.
5. Flexible Management
Most business structures do not enjoy flexibility in their management style. Fixed management has to arrange an annual meeting to elect its directors.
LLC business structures are ideal for business owners that encourage flexibility in their business management. The members of an LLC can choose how they want to run a business and how business decisions will be made. LLCs can decide between member-managed and manager-managed structures.
LLCs are not required to have a board of directors which allows flexibility in management.
