LLC C CorpQuestions before you tick
The same six questions arrive from owners who have not formed a company yet.
Six questions show up every week. The short answers are here. Each short answer has a longer page behind it if you want the walk-through. None of these answers is a computation for your year.
Is a company the same thing as a tax choice?
No. A company can exist under state law while the federal classification is still the default. A single owner who has filed no election usually sees the shop's activity on the return that already has their name on it. Several owners and no election on file pushes the company toward a partnership filing. The certificate does not finish that sentence. Form 8832 is the form that elects corporate treatment, and it is a separate act.
If I tick the corporate box, do you file the certificate?
No. The state filing office or a lawyer files the certificate. We read the tax life so you are not ticking blind. After the company exists we can keep the books and set up payroll with a provider you run. The filing and the books stay in different hands on purpose.
When does a second tax show up?
When a corporation pays a dividend. Profit was already taxed on the company's return. The dividend is then dealt with by the person who receives it. Wages for real work are a different exit, and they can be deducted when they are reasonable. A transfer with no label is how those two exits get confused. The books have to label them.
Can you run payroll after you set it up?
No. Setup is the job. A provider you choose calculates and pays. We keep the books in step with what that provider already did. We do not process payday here, and a page on this site will not pretend that we do.
I already filed an S election. Is this the right screen?
This screen is the moment before a company exists, or the moment you are choosing a corporate box versus an LLC box. An S election is a later form. If you already filed it, you need a reading of that election, not a tour of the two boxes. Say so in the note and we will not walk you through a choice you already made.
Why is there no price on the page?
Because a public number would mix our fee with a state filing charge, and it would go stale. Our fee is written in a letter after the scope is known. The state publishes its own charge. We will not invent either one in a paragraph.
If your question is whose assets stand behind a debt, stop here and call a lawyer. If your question is which return the box implies, send it.
Write the question
You will be talking to the Steven Palmieri practice.
Write the question in the note.