Choosing a Form for Your Business

The Right Legal Form: What legal form your business takes can have significant implications on your personal risk in the business as well as your potential for financial returns.
Sizing Up Business Structures: Figuring out the type of business to open is only half the battle of an entrepreneur. Your choice of business structure will largely determine how your business income will be taxed.
Acronym Acrimony: Along with naming your company, deciding which entity your business should become is one of the first decisions you'll ever make.
What Kind of Business Should Your Business Be?: If you're starting a business, one of the first questions you need to answer is what kind of legal form your business will take. The form you choose will affect the taxes you pay, who can invest in your company, and your financial security.
I'll be the sole owner of a party production company. Which form should my business take?: Attorney Barbara Weltman helps an entrepreneur starting a small company determine the most appropriate form for his business.
In Search of the Perfect Form: One entrepreneur went through three different corporate forms in the first five years of operation. This classic Inc article is a good case study of how figuring out the right business structure will require some planning and strategy.

Sole Proprietorships Defined: If you operate as a sole proprietorship, you and your business are legally inseparable.
Sole Proprietorship: Starting the Simple Way: A large number of small-business people start as sole proprietors because forming a sole proprietorship is cheap, easy, and fast. But it isn't an appropriate option for everyone.
Tax Realities of Husband-and-Wife Sole Proprietorships: A married couple can jointly own and operate a business as a sole proprietorship -- and that offers certain benefits.

Partnership Basics: Gain a general understanding of the purposes partnerships serve and the different types of partnerships that can be formed.
Partnership: Advantages and Disadvantages: Pros and cons to help you decide whether a partnership is the best structure for your business.
Happy Endings: Considering a business partnership? It's best to start by planning how it will end.

How to Incorporate a Small Business: S corporation? C corporation? Before you decide, this short primer offers a broad look at incorporation issues.
Corporation: Definition, Types, Formation, Maintenance: This simple tutorial takes you through everything from forming a corporation to maintaining and dissolving it.

What roles do the members of an LLC play?: Barbara Weltman explains the different roles that the members of an LLC can play.
Choosing the Limited Liability Company As Your Corporate Form: LLCs are extremely popular, combining many of the best traits of partnerships and corporations.
Paperwork Required to Set Up an LLC: Take a look at the basic legal documents and procedures involved with starting your own LLC.