This is a good question if you are starting up a new business venture. You have probably already decided on your business product, but you still have an more important issue to decide. You need to know what type of business entity structure will be the most beneficial and easy for your company. Have you heard of Limited Liability Company, C-Corporation, or S-Corporation? If your answer is yes, but you dont really understand the difference, then read the rest of this article.

You can use a number of business structures when creating your company. Each one comes with different benefits and liabilities. Here’s an overview:

Sole Proprietorship. This is best known as the one-man show where the individual person running the company keeps the profits and absorbs the losses. Unfortunately, the person also carries all the responsibility and liability. This is definitely the least desirable due to the huge personal risk thats involved for the individual. Partnership. In this structure, at least two or more people are the owners of the business. They put similar amounts of money and/or time into the business and they choose who is responsible for running it. They also incur the credit debt for the business and can be held personally liable – if sued. Limited Partnership. In a limited partnership there are, again, at least two partners involved, but they dont always have the same level of involvement, responsibility, or authority. One (or more) of the partners make the decisions and the others remain silent partners. The amount of monetary contribution per partner also differs. Limited Liability Company (LLC). This generally proves to be the most flexible business structure and definitely one of the easiest to set up in the beginning. Its a very good entity for small or large businesses because it helps provide personal asset protection. It also offers a format that makes it easy to distribute profits and losses among the owners. With this type of entity structure, the liabilities of the company are not taken from the personal assets of the individuals, but rather taken from the business assets of the LLC. C-Corporation. There are two ways to file your business as a corporation ” either as a C-Corporation or as an S-Corporation. The C-Corp is the most stringent and structured form. The business profits are taxed twice ” once at the corporate level and once at the stockholder level. With this type, you can have unlimited stockholders to own the company. The C-Corp is taxed as a separate entity, unlike the other form know as an S-Corp. S-Corp. This too is corporation. However, it has a limit in the number stockholders that can own the business ” a max of 75. A plus for this business type is that the profits arent double taxed like they are in the C-Corp structure. This is known as a flow through entity ” which means the profits or losses flow through to the personal, individual tax returns.

Financial institutions generally view the LLC and corporation structures as higher rated business entities. By choosing one of these structures for your business, you are presenting a more professional image to the financial institutions and they are more likely to offer business credit and trade credit to the business.