Nashville Bankruptcy Attorneys Clark & Washington Explore the Different Types of Small Businesses and Their Liability Structures

    NASHVILLE, TN, April 29, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Nashville bankruptcy attorneys at Clark & Washington would like to disclose the different types of small businesses and their liability structures to better inform potential small business owners of the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Choosing a Business Structure
Deciding the structure of your business is one of the most important steps in developing a small business. The decision you make will ultimately control how your business is taxed, the ability to add other owners or members, whether or not your company can be publicly traded, levels of liability and much more. There are six different ways to structure you business and multiple sub-categories within those structures that you can utilize to make the most of your business. The main types of business structures are:

Sole Proprietorship - This is the simplest form of doing any kind of business and consists of only one owner. There is no need to create a separate entity or file any documents to start a sole proprietorship. Liability, however, rests solely on the owner as there is no entity to shield from liability.

Limited Liability Company - Also referred to as an LLC, the limited liability company is a very common business structure. It allows for multiple members to share ownership while allowing the entity to be responsible for business liabilities.

Corporation - A corporation is an entity all its own and is generally the most complex business structure. The company is owned by its shareholders, and the entity, not its owners, is responsible for liabilities created by the entity.

Partnership - Partnerships are broken down into many sub-categories each with their own pros and cons. Overall, a partnership is simply one business owned by two or more people. With partnerships, agreements need to made on many aspects of the business.

Cooperative - A cooperative varies vastly from other business structures. The business itself operates and is owned by the users of the services provided by the cooperative. For example, insurance companies, healthcare companies, agricultural companies and retail companies are typically operated as cooperatives. The process of starting a cooperative is also far more complex than most other structures.

S-Corporation -An S-corporation is a special form of corporation that allows for profits and losses to be passed through to personal tax returns much like an LLC.

If you need assistance choosing which entity to create for your business, a Nashville bankruptcy attorney will be able to guide you to the right structure. For more information, visit http://www.bankruptcyattorneynashville.com

Established in 1983, Clark & Washington is now one of the leading bankruptcy filers in the Southeast. They have locations in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. Clark & Washington specializes in personal Chapter 7 and 13 bankruptcy. They offer honest, helpful legal advice to those experiencing financial hardships.

For more information, visit http://www.bankruptcyattorneynashville.com.

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