#business-structure
Business Structure
Choose and optimize your business entity for tax and legal advantages
UK Companies House Identity Verification: ECCTA Deadlines Every Director and PSC Must Know
Since November 18, 2025, UK company directors and PSCs must verify their identity with Companies House under ECCTA — new appointments verify immediately, existing directors by their next confirmation statement (backstop November 18, 2026), with fines up to £5,000, filing lockout, and strike-off for non-compliance.
Delaware Just Raised Its LLC Annual Tax From $300 to $400 — Here's What Every Out-of-State Entity Owes
Delaware HB 400, signed May 21, 2026, raises the flat annual tax on LLCs, LPs, and GPs from $300 to $400 and the registered-series tax from $75 to $100 — retroactive to January 1, 2026. Here's who owes it, when it's due, and how to budget for it.
FinCEN Removed Beneficial Ownership Reporting for U.S. Companies: What the Corporate Transparency Act Rule Change Means for Your Small Business
FinCEN's March 2025 interim final rule exempted domestic U.S. companies from Corporate Transparency Act beneficial ownership reporting, removing the obligation for more than 99% of previously covered entities while foreign reporting companies must still file.
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.
Jones Bluff v. Commissioner: Why LLC Members Get No Seat at the Table in a BBA Partnership Audit
In Jones Bluff, LLC v. Commissioner (166 T.C. No. 6, March 2026), the Tax Court dismissed a Fifth Amendment due-process challenge to the BBA centralized partnership audit regime on standing and ripeness grounds — confirming that individual partners get no notice or hearing rights during an entity-level audit. Here's how the regime works, who qualifies for the small-partnership election-out, and what LLC members should fix in their operating agreements before an audit starts.
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.