LLC? or No?

[Curtsong]

Does anyone set their production up as an LLC?

I'm considering doing that for multiple reasons. But, I'm curious to know the thoughts of some taxi veterans.

P.S. Hope everyone is having a great start for their 2017.

[jazzstan]

Curt,

This might be a few degrees of the mark but ....

I have my (day gig) CFO consulting biz set up as an LLC - for two very specific reasons: (a) the limited liability for obvious business reasons as an interim or part-time executive for other businesses, and (b) for the savings on self-employment tax - but that only kicks (1) if I pay myself a salary (I use a payroll company to file all the federal and state tax filings), and (2) if my earnings are significantly over the Social Security Tax cap ($127,500 for 2017) and (3) I elect the tax status of a sole proprietorship / partnership. I'm not sure about trade-offs with the C- and S- corp tax status. There are additional taxes (vary by state), payroll service fees and a little bit of tax-prep and legal costs. At 65 years old, and starting to ease into retirement over the next few years, I will eventually drop the LLC when the tax benefit is no longer there.

If your reasons are more liability-related, you might be able to get insurance to cover what you need without the hassle and additional expense of the LLC. Another way to limit liability is to make sure the contracts for your production services (assuming you are provide such services for others) is written in a way to mitigate the liability. A good lawyer could help you set up a template for that.

Stan

[Soundbed]

I started an LLC when I started my dance music record label. The reason was we were signing contracts with artists saying they promised not to use "samples" but we wanted to protect our home finances in case we / they got sued. My partner and I also started a joint checking account and paid for business expenses from that, making tax time easier. I haven't found many ways to leverage the LLC for Taxi submissions or TV & Film music yet, other than "business expenses" etc.

[Curtsong]

Thank you Soundbed and JazzStan.

I think a call to my accountant and my attorney buddy are in order.

Best Regards,

Scott