#business-structure
Business Structure
Choose and optimize your business entity for tax and legal advantages
USDA's 2026 Farm Payment Rule: Entity-Level AGI Testing Ends for LLC and S-Corp Farms
USDA's final rule effective June 2, 2026 ends entity-level AGI testing for LLCs, S corporations, partnerships, and joint ventures — AGI is now tested per owner against the $900,000 limit, payment limits stack by actively engaged member, and paid labor counts toward eligibility. Entity certifications are due to FSA by September 15, 2026.
Is B Corp Certification Worth It? A 2026 Cost-Benefit Guide for Small Businesses
B Corp certification costs small businesses $2,100 a year (under $5M revenue) plus roughly 12 months of assessment, legal restructuring, and audit work. Here's the 2026 fee schedule, what B Lab's V2 standards changed, and which businesses actually see a revenue payoff.
Know Your Business (KYB): What Banks Actually Require to Open a Business Account in 2026
FinCEN's 2025 rule change exempted domestic U.S. companies from filing beneficial ownership reports with the government, but banks still must verify beneficial owners under the CDD Rule at account opening — a one-time cost per bank since February 2026's exceptive relief, not a repeat process for every new account.
Starting a Microschool or Learning Pod: The Bookkeeping and Business Structure Guide
Roughly 1 in 20 K-12 students now attends a microschool, and 38% received state school-choice funds in 2025 — here's how to choose an LLC vs. 501(c)(3), price tuition against ESA timing mismatches, and track per-student revenue from day one.
The Low-Profit LLC (L3C): What Mission-Driven Founders Should Know
L3Cs are legally recognized in only about ten states and roughly 1,700 exist nationwide, because the IRS never confirmed that L3C status automatically satisfies the program-related-investment test the structure was built around.
Family Business Succession: A Governance and Bookkeeping Guide for the Third Generation
Only about 12% of family businesses reach a third generation, and the failure usually traces to unclear governance and commingled finances rather than a lack of talent; this guide covers the access-apprenticeship-authority framework, separating family council from board, and the bookkeeping habits that make succession planning possible.
The FinCEN Residential Real Estate Rule Is Vacated: A Guide for LLC and Trust Buyers
A Texas federal court vacated FinCEN's Residential Real Estate Rule on March 19, 2026, eighteen days after it took effect, ending the mandatory reporting requirement for all-cash LLC and trust property purchases while FinCEN appeals to the Fifth Circuit.
Florida's New Protected Series LLC Law: One Master LLC or Five Separate Ones?
Florida's Uniform Protected Series Provisions (SB 316) took effect July 1, 2026, letting one LLC split into multiple liability-shielded "protected series" — a cost and bookkeeping comparison against forming a separate standalone LLC per property.
Business Divorce: How Partner Buyout Valuation and Deadlock Actually Work
Roughly 54% of business partnerships dissolve within five years and about 70% of small business owners never signed a buy-sell agreement, leaving price, timeline, and process to be fought over from a blank page once partners can no longer agree.
Consolidated vs. Combined Financial Statements: What Owners of Multiple LLCs Actually Need
Consolidated statements group a parent with the subsidiaries it controls under ASC 810; combined statements group entities that share a common owner with no parent-subsidiary link — the structure most multi-LLC owners actually have. Both require eliminating intercompany transactions, and neither changes how each LLC files taxes.
Employee Ownership Trusts: The Succession Planning Alternative Between Selling to a Stranger and Doing Nothing
An Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) lets a business owner sell to a permanent employee-benefit trust instead of a competitor or private equity firm, costing roughly $30,000-$100,000 to set up versus $150,000+ for an ESOP, though the U.S. still offers no federal tax incentive for EOT sales while Canada made its C$10 million capital gains exemption permanent in June 2026.
Section 1361 S-Corporation Eligibility: The Hidden Rules That Can Quietly Terminate Your Election
Section 1361 sets five eligibility rules for S-corporations—domestic incorporation, 100-shareholder cap, eligible shareholders, one class of stock, and entity type. Routine business decisions like uneven distributions or a relocated shareholder can terminate the election; Section 1362(f) offers PLR-based relief that costs $30,000+ in user fees.