Structure Planning

The selection of a business structure is one of the most important tax planning decisions you will make. Not only does this decision have significant income and estate tax impacts, the choice of business entity can have important business and risk management implications.

We can help you select the correct entity structure when starting a new business or expanding an existing one. Together, we will evaluate the many tax and non-tax considerations that must be considered, in order to determine the best form for your business.

In order to help you select the correct entity structure, we will consider a wide range of important tax and non-tax factors:

• Number of active vs. non-active owners
• Distribution of owners vs. investors
• Level of flexibility required to address owner/investor needs
• Type of business: capital-intensive or service-based
• Type of assets to be held inside the entity
• Source and type of capital funding
• Ease of entry and exit required for owners/investors
• Future plans for business expansion
• State-specific considerations
• Mix of capital and debt funding and its effect on potential losses
at the entity and owner/investor levels
• Business succession planning

For many of our clients, the issue of an optimal business structure is more involved. The size and scope of operations often dictates the need for multiple operating entities. Often, a company’s legal structure has been the result of a series of decisions made over time; based on the laws in place over a period of years and driven by acquisitions, business objectives, and tax planning strategies of the time. The resulting structure may no longer meet the operational, risk management and tax minimization needs of the company. In this situation, we seek to identify the optimal entity structure to meet the operational needs of the company, while simultaneously ensuring that the necessary tax minimization goals are achieved.