do you guys register your photography business as a proprietor or INc ?

LLC should not cost more in accounting work, you can still file your taxes on schedule C as if you were a sole prop. As mentioned, if you ever get sued because you hurt someone on the job or lose their wedding photos when your hard drive crashes, they can only take your LLC assets instead of all your personal assets, like your personal bank account, your house, your car, your wife, etc.. They can't bankrupt you personally in a lawsuit, only your llc which won't have many assets.


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Grand Rapids MI Wedding Photographer

Canon 5d, 5d MkII, 70-200 f/2.8 IS II, 16-35mm L, 50mm f/1.2L, 580ex II.

This is not true. Don't think for a moment that you can surrender a couple of thousand in assets after losing, say, a multi-million dollar lawsuit and the court won't "pierce the veil" and come after your personal assets. It can and does happen. A lot depends on the legal environment in your state--some states are aggressive about liability cases, some are not. You just read "I've seen it happen" right in this thread.

Regardless of the organization of your business, you need plenty, plenty, plenty of liability insurance--that's what's going to keep the court out of your bedroom.

Business organization is much more for taxation protection, than for liability protection. That's why--depending on the size of your business operation--sole proprietorship plus the right insurance may be better than being an LLC.

Talk to you CPA and your lawyer about the best course of action for your business and your state's legal environment, and pay attention to them about what each says in his own specialty. Don't take legal advice from a CPA, don't take financial advice from a lawyer. That's why accountants have lawyers and lawyers have accountants.

I freelance in a number of areas and a few seperate businesses and have a parent LLC that they all operate under.

But as others have said, don't think for a second that just creating a LLC or corporation will offer the protection against personal liability that everybody loves to tout as the benefits.

That's because the kind of protection people are most concerned with are tort wrongs, which has nothing to do with whether you're operating as a business entity or not. A properly set up business entity can protect you against contractual wrongs, but it in no way does anything when it comes to your personal actions.

For more information: http://www.litigationa​ndtrial.com …l-liability-in-a-lawsuit/

The main takeaway from that is:

All that being said, it's still in your best interest to separate yourself from your business and it can offer some protection when you're dealing with contracts and providing certain services, but just don't fall into the trap of thinking that by creating a business entity you're free and clear from any wrongdoing made on behalf of the company.

RDKirk wrote in post #11645935
This is not true. Don't think for a moment that you can surrender a couple of thousand in assets after losing, say, a multi-million dollar lawsuit and the court won't "pierce the veil" and come after your personal assets. It can and does happen. A lot depends on the legal environment in your state--some states are aggressive about liability cases, some are not. You just read "I've seen it happen" right in this thread.

Regardless of the organization of your business, you need plenty, plenty, plenty of liability insurance--that's what's going to keep the court out of your bedroom.

Business organization is much more for taxation protection, than for liability protection. That's why--depending on the size of your business operation--sole proprietorship plus the right insurance may be better than being an LLC.

Talk to you CPA and your lawyer about the best course of action for your business and your state's legal environment, and pay attention to them about what each says in his own specialty. Don't take legal advice from a CPA, don't take financial advice from a lawyer. That's why accountants have lawyers and lawyers have accountants.

Sole Proprietor is not a safer bet then LLC. I'm an LLC and it was recommended to me to be so, by a laywer for the state of ohio, whos my brother. Main reason being to protect my personal assets. In the state of Ohio as an LLC I cant be touched, just my business. Now in saying that, my business has a decent value, so it could still take a significant hit.

It seems as though everything you have posted in this thread so far is a lot of copy and paste, and generalized.

CliffordPhotography wrote in post #11656325
Sole Proprietor is not a safer bet then LLC. I'm an LLC and it was recommended to me to be so, by a laywer for the state of ohio, whos my brother. Main reason being to protect my personal assets. In the state of Ohio as an LLC I cant be touched, just my business. Now in saying that, my business has a decent value, so it could still take a significant hit.

It seems as though everything you have posted in this thread so far is a lot of copy and paste, and generalized.

I said:

What's your problem with that?

In Ohio, apparently it's great. In some states--and, btw, the benefits and vulnerabilities of "LLC" are totally a matter of what each state legislature wrote into them--it may not be such a great idea.

Define "illegally".