Legal Entity Comparison

Description	Sole Proprietor	LLC	S-Corp	C-Corp
What Is It?	Individual	Legal Entity	Legal Entity	Legal Entity
Where Formed / Authorized	Anywhere individual Locates	State	State	State
Life of Entity	Lifetime of Person	Set Length	Forever	Forever
Who is Liable	Individual (except where negotiated)	Usually Just the Entity	Usually Just the Entity	Usually Just the Entity
Tiers of Control	Individual	Members of LLC by Consensus	Same as C, Smaller Scale	Shareholders Board of Directors Executives Employees
Legal Mandates (Meetings, Filings)	None	Fewer than Corps	Board Meetings Annual Meetings Annual Filings Other	Board Meetings Annual Meetings Annual Filings Other
Taxation	Individual – No Double Tax	Individual Rates – Passes through to members with proper structure – No Double Tax	Individual Rates – Passes through to members with proper structure – No Double Tax	Corporation is taxed and Distributions / Dividends / Gains are taxed to individuals – Double Tax
Cost to Establish	None	State Filing Fees Legal/FAC Fees	State Filing Fees Legal/FAC Fees	State Filing Fees Legal/FAC Fees
Capital Structure	None	Transferable Interests vs. Shares of Stock – % Ownership (may be transferable)	Shareholders Free to Transfer	Virtually Unlimited Number of Shareholders / Shares