# Spliting up the businesses. LLC, s corp or c corp?



## Shop's Lawn (Nov 9, 2008)

We have decided to split up our business and do them all seperate.
For lawn care,landscaping and snow plowing what have you guys found out to be the best way to go- LLC, S-Corp or C-corp? take into mind, tax wise, liablitiy on business and or personel self/items? 

i'm in WI if that helps for more info.

Thanks much


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## grsp (Oct 19, 2008)

i have to ask. why? there are so many expenses that could be shared with one company. like insurance. every EIN needs its own policy.


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## Shop's Lawn (Nov 9, 2008)

Main reason- With the family we have about six different companys that carry totally different industires and have nothing alike or even could compare to each other. We are getting out of two of them and putting the money else where. I'm 100% taking over the lawn,landscaping and plowing and one other business that I do. I need to keep them apart. The family kinda worked on each gig all together but now with great success and a very good platform its time to change that and each focus on one main company.


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## plowtime1 (Nov 1, 2007)

Laws vary from state to state other than the IRS, so based on family and such;I think LLC


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

Check with a lawyer or two. But maybe set each one up as a llc and then have a main llc with covers all of them. This way if something happens in the lawn part your snow part should be safe. I think?


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## terrapro (Oct 21, 2006)

i own a few other small businesses(DBA's) that i dable with on the side. it is actually my winter project to have them set up a little more stream lined. i am going to create a parent or umbrella LLC and register all of my DBA's under the parent/umbrella LLC. i have already spoken with my ins agent and she said we could easily list the whole thing under one contract because of the LLC basically being a glorified DBA. if i was setting it up as a inc it would be almost impossible to do it this way because of the seperation between the officers and the business.


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## RichG53 (Sep 16, 2008)

D B A'S What are they??????


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## JDiepstra (Sep 15, 2008)

Doing Business As... this is for sole proprietors who use their own ss number as a tax id. You have to get one of these to open a bank account with a business name. Basically, you pay 10 bucks and get a piece of paper.


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## Dakotakid (Dec 14, 2007)

Definitly not a C Corp (Corp Pays tax and Shareholders pay tax)
I have a couple S corps work good for me, I don't really know about LLC legalities, Talk to a Good Tax Lawyer, it is money wisely spent on the front side versus paying it on the Back


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## Superior L & L (Oct 6, 2006)

JDiepstra;634343 said:


> Doing Business As... this is for sole proprietors who use their own ss number as a tax id. You have to get one of these to open a bank account with a business name. Basically, you pay 10 bucks and get a piece of paper.


DBA's put all the risk on you personally


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## terrapro (Oct 21, 2006)

Superior L & L;634983 said:


> DBA's put all the risk on you personally


if you are a small bussiness thats properly insured and dont gamble with your business there is nothing wrong with a DBA.

LLC, S-CORP, and C-CORP definately offer more protection especially if you are going for broke and attempting to bankrupt a business with your ceo's rediculous bonuses while begging for tax dollars because you cant pay your employees(GM,ford, chrysler, big banking, and the government).


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## redman6565 (Jul 14, 2008)

i have an llc but its for a property purchasing company while the construction/snowplowing is under an s-corp. now i always thought you have better insurance coverage liability wise under an s-corp but maybe im wrong, just my personal observation...


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## Grampa Plow (Sep 1, 2008)

If your going to go with a DBA, have an umbrella policy in addition to your primary. If an kind of an incident happens and the resulting damage award goes over your primary policy (usually 300, 500, or 1,000,000)...the umbrella kicks in to cover the rest. It's either that or they come in and take your trucks, plows, spreaders, wife, kids......wait a minute....I just thought of something!!


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## VBR (Oct 21, 2008)

I would do an LLC. An LLC will *L*imit the *L*iability to each individual *C*orporation. Meaning that if you have one company fail, (Lawsuit, bankruptcy etc..) your other companies can not be affected by it, or have their assets be affected by it.


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## SGC08 (Aug 24, 2008)

You should talk to a good accountant or business lawyer to see which structure or combination of structures will work best for you. I'm not an expert but I wouldn't think a Sole Proprietorship would protect you adequately. LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp would have you covered there but which one would benefit you more as far as taxes are concerned would depend on your individual situation and how your business is structured.



grsp;634032 said:


> i have to ask. why? there are so many expenses that could be shared with one company. like insurance. every EIN needs its own policy.


Not necessarily true. Under certain situations, two or more entities can share the same policy. I have two C-corporations, each with their own EIN, and they are both on the same policy. When I need to send a COI to someone, I just tell my carrier which corporation to list.


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