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Legal Forms of Business

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Legal Forms of Business Paper

University of Phoenix

LAW/531

Aaron Gershonowitz

November 7, 2011

Legal Forms of Business

There are many different forms of business in today’s society. They run from sole proprietorship to corporate form. When someone wants to start a business, he/she has to decide what form of business he/she wants to be a part of. Of all the forms of business out there, this paper will be discussing seven of them, along with scenarios that each of these seven forms would be preferred. The forms of business being discussed in this paper will be: sole proprietorship, general partnership, limited liability partnership, Limited Liability Company, S corporation, franchise, and corporate form.

Sole Proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is a business that is owned by one person. Someone new to the business world would want to start out having this type of business if he/she wants to keep the business small. There are several major advantages to operating a business as a sole proprietorship, and they include the following:

• Forming a sole proprietorship is easy and does not cost a lot.

• No federal or state government approval is required.

• The owner has the right to make all management decisions concerning the business, including those involving hiring and firing employees.

• The sole proprietor owns all of the business and has the right to receive all of the business’s profits.

• A sole proprietorship can be easily transferred or sold if and when the owner desires to do so; no other approval (such as from partners or shareholders) is necessary (Cheeseman, 2010).

• Owner would only have to file one set of taxes, instead of filing personal and business taxes separately.

There are some disadvantages to being a sole proprietor, too. These are as follows:

• Owner has to use own funds

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