If you are one of those people who is tired of having to form seperate entities (LLCs or corporations) for each type of business you operate, or for each piece of real estate that you own, a Series LLC may be useful to you. Nearly a decade ago, the state of Delaware introduced a legal entity that would become known as the Series LLC. Despite its origins in Delaware, several other states have now started to permit the usage of Series LLCs. Read more
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How to form a Single Member LLC in New York State
There are a lot of small businesses out there operating as sole proprietorships, that is they operate the business through the individual(s), and there is no formal entity. Many sole proprietors tell me that they’ve filed a d/b/a with the local county (here, the counties of Onondaga, Tompkins or Monroe), and therefore believe that is all they need to ensure that they are not personally liable, but this is not correct.
The main reason people incorporate or organize LLCs is to limit liability. Debts and contractual obligations are not something that you want to owe personally if you can avoid it. Setting up an LLC will create a seperate legal entity from yourself that you will operate the business through, own business assets, and contract through. Not much has to change when you form a single member LLC. LLC’s are also useful because the IRS will let you choose how you want the LLC taxed (either as a disregarded entity, S corp or C corp).
Drag Along v. Tag Along Rights
Both drag along rights and tag along rights can be very beneficial in an LLC Operating Agreement or a corporation’s Shareholder Agreement. They both relate generally to when an owner (or a group of owners) holding a certain percentage of the equity of a company (usually a majority) wish to sell their interests in the company to a third party. Tag along rights are beneficial to minority owners, while drag along rights are beneficial to majority owners.
Granting LLC Profits Interests
In a startup company, its common for certain employees to be compensated with some form of equity. When you incorporate, you would adopt a stock option plan and then issue options to the corporation’s employees to compensate them for their past services and to incentivize them to stay and keep up the hard work – make sure you vest!
With LLCs becoming ever more common, the owners of a startup organized as an LLC want to be able to compensate and motivate their employees and contractors in the same manner. They can do so by granting employees LLC profits interests.