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Business Structure Advice Fin/571

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Business Structure Advice
FIN/571
October 20, 2014
Richard Vermeer

Business Structure Advice
The purpose of this paper is to respond to an email from John Owner who is seeking advice on his options regarding all the possible types of business entities that there are for him to choose from to form his new business. In addition, Mr. Owner would like to know the advantages and disadvantages of each entity and the tax consequences connected with each entity.
The business structures that will be discussed with Mr. Owner will include sole proprietorship, partnerships which include general partnerships and limited liability partnerships and corporations which include subchapter or S corporations and limited liability corporations.
Sole Proprietorship
A sole proprietorship is the simplest structure and the most inexpensive business to start. The owner has complete control over the business and has the sole rights to the business profits. The owner is responsible for making all business decisions and does not have to defer to partners for decision approvals (Parrino, Kidwell, & Bates, 2012). The life entity of a sole proprietorship is limited (Parrino et al, 2012, p. 572). An advantage of a sole proprietorship is that the profits earned are subjected to lower income taxes (Parrino et al, 2012 p. 572).
One of the major disadvantages of a sole proprietorship is that the owner is liable for all business debts. The issue with unlimited liability is that creditors review both the business assets and personal assets of the owner as resources for payment of debt (Parrino et al, 2012, p 6). Another disadvantage is that the amount of capital is limited to the owner’s personal funds and to any loans the owner may borrow from the bank (Parrino et al, 2012, p 6). An important factor to consider is that a sole proprietorship is easily is transferred to a new owner

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