First, the limited company is first and foremost a business protection vehicle. It provides a layer of protection between you personally and your business. In order to preserve this protection, it is absolutely essential that your limited company is properly and completely set up at the state level.

Second, the LLC business entity provides owners with a lot of flexibility when it comes to operating a business. This is a great thing because there is no one size fits all solution to how every business should be run. You may only want to give one of the members authority to act on behalf of the limited company or everyone may need to have such authority.

You may want to limit what business activities the limited company engages in or allow multiple businesses. You can define who gets how much voting rights or how much a member gets in the profits of the business.

Third, after setting up an LLC for your business, the limited company can choose among several structures for how it will be taxed. A single member LLC can be disregarded as a legal entity for tax purposes only which means it is taxed as a sole proprietorship on the personal return of the single member.

A multi-member LLC can be taxed as a partnership under the federal tax laws which provides a single layer of pass through taxation. This type of taxation is most common because an LLC can avoid the double taxation of corporations but still provide liability protection to every owner.

Any limited company, regardless of how many members it has, can also elect to be taxed as a C corporation or an S corporation for federal tax purposes. In some cases, it is beneficial to have corporate tax treatment. Consult with your accountant if you are in doubt. The great thing is that the LLC allows the most tax choices.

Fourth, the limited company provides a business with a more professional and trustworthy image. This benefit goes a long way for a new business. Customers prefer to do business with legally organized businesses such as a limited company. The fact that a business is an LLC shows that the owners went through this planning step of creating a proper and official business vehicle.

When setting up an LLC for your business, do not get too concerned about all the LLC information out there. Just know that it is a pro-business and a business protective vehicle with many advantages. You get liability protection from day one and you can learn about how to use the limited company as your business evolves.

It is important you start your business with a limited company from the start to avoid any later personal liability. If you have already started a business, form an LLC right away to minimize your liability risk.