If you’re a Tennessee entrepreneur or business owner operating a profitable small business, you probably ought to consider forming either an LLC or corporation and then electing to use the Subchapter S tax accounting rules for your business.
Here’s why: If you’re not operating as an s-corporation, you’re paying not only federal and state income taxes on all your business profits, but you’re also paying hefty self-employment taxes on those profits too. Those self-employment taxes run roughly 15% on the first $120,000 of business profit an owner enjoys and then roughly 3%-4% on any profits in excess of the $120,000 threshold.
However, you can operate your firm as an s-corporation and this lets you sidestep some of (and oftentimes, a lot of) the self-employment taxes you pay.
Sound interesting? We’ve got two do-it-yourself kits that Tennessee small business owners can use. Both kits provide complete instructions for setting up your s-corporation and supply sample operating agreements or corporate by-laws. With one of these kits, you should be able to get your s-corporation set up, literally, with a few minutes of effort.
Note: Some people like to use a corporation as the platform for the s-corp because corporations are, well, traditional. But many accountants and attorneys recommend you use an LLC as the base for an s-corporation. An LLC should give you just as much legal protection, should mean less red tape, and may give you additional tax flexibility—especially as you start your “incorporated” life…
Our Tennessee S Corporation kit
As mentioned above, we typically recommend the LLC version of our s-corporation kit which you can acquire by clicking the button below:
If you prefer to go the more traditional route, the corporate version is available here:
Each kit will come with a sample operating agreement (for LLCs) or bylaws (for corps) as well as instructions to set up with entity and make the s election.
Money Back Guarantee
We do offer a money back guarantee on every kit we sell. If you aren’t satisfied with your purchase or after reading find it still too much to do on your own, send us a request for refund to steve.nelson@stephenlnelson.com.
Additional Resources
How Are Corporations Taxed?: Before diving into this new entity structure, it’s a good idea to understand how each is taxed.
Quick and Dirty Payroll for One-person S Corps: Not only can you set up your own s-corporation with our instructions, we can help with payroll too!