Monday, November 24, 2008

Benefits of a Virginia Limited Liability Company

By Amy McDaniel

If you want to start a Virginia business, you are well on your path to financial freedom and an exciting adventure. But you must realize that this path is full of potential for risks and liability. Accordingly, you should create a personal liability protection vehicle to protect you when running a business. The best choice is the Virginia limited liability company.

Virginia is one of the best states for business ownership because Virginia government has focused on the need to encourage business growth in the state. As a result, there are a lot of incentives and protections available. The Virginia Limited Liability Company Act is designed to provide a small business owner with protection and other helpful features.

The Virginia LLC laws create an automatic layer of liability protection between the owners and the LLC itself. What this means is that you, as an owner of an LLC business, are not subjecting all your personal assets and finances at risk of loss for business related matters. This is key today when small businesses are prime targets for lawsuits. Virginia legislatures have made it easy to establish this kind of entity with low filing fees and a fairly straightforward creation process.

Lawmakers also realized that the last thing small business owners needed was to be buried in legal compliance requirements and formalities. Many of the rules imposed upon corporations are there because they are needed for larger and more complex business enterprises. In the small business context, these are just not necessary.

So, business owners do not have to worry about spending time or money on meeting legal compliance requirements. This allows them to spend their time on building their businesses and reaching customers. The Virginia LLC laws intentionally make it easy and flexible for a Virginia business to be run through one. There is no mandated one size fits all structure when it comes to determining ownership details or operational processes. Each business can decide on these details themselves based on their business situation.

Another government entity that has offered incentives to a Virginia limited liability company is the Internal Revenue Service. As a result of regulations passed in 1997, an LLC has the most choices and opportunity for tax planning over any other business structure. Most importantly, it automatically qualifies for a single layer of pass through taxation so you can avoid the double taxation of C corporations without having to make elections or continue to monitor compliance of S corporation rules.

These benefits discussed are just a few examples of the power of the Virginia limited liability company for a small business owner. When you are in the process of starting a Virginia business, choosing the right legal entity should be your initial step as it sets the foundation for everything required to be successful.

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