LLC vs Sole Proprietor: Which is Better for Your Business?

hey there crystal a cpa here and a common question i hear all of the time from new business owners is should i be a sole proprietor or an llc as a business owner you might be wondering which entity type will save you the most in taxes right or you just might be confused on the entire idea of selecting an entity type for your business and why you should actually care either way i completely understand and in today's video i plan on breaking down the key differences and similarities between operating your business as a sole proprietorship or operating your business as an llc let's go ahead and dive in [Music] so let's start with sole proprietorship what is it well according to the irs a sole proprietorship or sole proprietor is someone who owns an unincorporated business by him or herself but more simply a sole proprietor is one person who earns money by selling a product or rendering a service it is what you are by default when you start your business so there aren't any forms to file or any additional steps you need to take when operating a sole proprietorship furthermore sole proprietorships aren't required to have a separate bank account or pay filing fees to get started so in the eyes of the irs if you own a business by yourself you are automatically a sole proprietor now from a tax perspective sole proprietors are treated as the same entity as their business which means sole proprietorships are taxed at the same individual tax rate as its owner and this also means that all of the earnings the sole proprietorship made is 100 entitled to the owner and should be paid out and it is for this reason sole proprietorships are required to report all of the income they've earned on their owner's individual tax return and pay taxes on all of the business profits there is not a separate business return for sole proprietorships but sole proprietors also get to report all of their business related expenses as tax write-offs which would lower profits and the taxes do in addition you would report all of these business-related income and losses on an additional irs form schedule c and attach it to your personal income tax return now in order to complete schedule c you would need your business name social security number or ein if you have one a business profit and loss statement for the tax year and also any receipts or other source documentation for the tax write-offs you're planning to claim in addition to schedule c if you're a sole proprietor and earned more than 400 during the year you are required to file schedule se and pay social security and medicare taxes this form would also be attached to the owner's personal tax return but once you figure out your total self-employment income after all of the business expenses have been deducted from your revenue you can expect to pay about 15.3 percent in self-employment taxes up to the first 142 800 of self-employment income so up until now you've learned that sole proprietorships are the default entity structures for individuals operating a business and no paperwork is required to be filed to form them and sole proprietorships are not considered separate entities from their owners and pay income taxes based on the owner's individual income tax rate and in addition to those taxes sole proprietors pay self-employment taxes if their income was over 400 did you catch all of that now let's move on to llc's llc stands for limited liability company and according to the irs an llc is a business structure allowed by state statute so there aren't any federal forms that you need to file to form an llc instead each state has different rules and regulations regarding llc's and for this reason business owners who wish to have an llc must file the appropriate paperwork including filing fees to the secretary of state so unlike sole proprietorships becoming an llc is an active process it is not an entity structure by default and you can also have more than one owner in an llc unlike sole proprietorships another fun fact is that an llc owner is called a member not a sole proprietor another difference is that llc owners enjoy what's called limited liability limited liability is a type of legal protection where the liability of the business is limited to the amount the business owner invested in the business also meaning that the personal assets of the business owner are not at risk if the company is sued or fails and the reason is because the llc and the owner are considered two separate entities from a legal perspective so if someone decides to sue your business they are suing your business and not you the individual this also means that when you own an llc you should have a separate bank account for your business to keep your business and personal funds clearly separated the opposite is true for sole proprietorships remember sole proprietorships are treated as the same entity as their owner so if someone sues your sole proprietorship they are also suing you the individual in which case your personal assets like your house are potentially at risk all right that was a lot of legal talk but let's get into some of the tax implications of llcs now if you are one person who owns an llc and you don't make any tax elections the irs considers your llc to be a disregarded entity by default this means that the llc's business activities should be reflected on the owner's federal tax return very much similar or the same as a sole proprietor the business activities would be reported on schedule c and the taxes owed would be based on the owner's individual tax rate and the owner would still be liable for self-employment taxes on the llc's income however and here's where another major difference happens between llcs and sole proprietorships llcs that do not want to accept their default tax classification can use form 8832 to elect how it will be classified for federal tax purposes so llc owners can actually choose if they want their llc to be taxed as a partnership or corporation or llc owners can use form 2553 to elect their llc be taxed as a s corporation now deciding on whether to elect a certain tax treatment or go with the default method for llcs is a personalized decision and depends on a number of different factors such as your business income your goals for the profits of the business and investor involvement but for the purposes of this video you just need to understand that you have more flexibility in how you want to be taxed when you are an llc you just have to file the right forms to recap here some of the pros and cons of a sole proprietorship are starting with the pros no cost or formal process required to start simple tax filing and owner is entitled to all profits the cons of sole proprietorships include owner is personally liable for losses and lawsuits and it may be harder to raise money from investors because of the lack of legal separation between owner and business the pros of llcs include owners enjoy limited liability or protection of their personal assets flexible tax treatment and possible to have multiple owners the cons of llcs include filing fees a form and annual renewal fees paperwork to file with the state and even more paperwork to file if the owner chooses to be taxed differently so which one will you choose for your business or which one are you already operating with let me know in the comments and i'll see you in another video you

Channel: LYFE Accounting

Views: 23,534

Keywords: lyfe accounting, llc, sole proprietor, llc vs sole proprietor, entity structures

Id: gxIN04DdNHc

Length: 8min 49sec (529 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 27 2022