Haik Chilingaryan - Anatomy of Limited Liability Corporation

A Limited Liability Company (“LLC”) is a hybrid business entity which contains elements of a partnership and a corporation. LLCs consist of members and managers. An LLC may provide tremendous benefits for its members, which include asset protection, intergenerational transfers, tax saving strategies, wealth preservation, flexible management structures, and clarity on the roles of all essential parties involved in the company as set out in the Operating Agreement.

The following five concepts are fundamental for establishing an LLC: Asset Protection, Intergenerational Transfers, Tax Saving Strategies, Management, and Funding.

Asset Protection

Generally, the more assets a person owns in one’s name, the more likely it is that he or she will be a target mark for creditors. This is why it’s good practice to own as little as possible in your own name. In order to accomplish this goal, it’s important to evaluate the types of asset protections tools that are available to you. An LLC is one such tool that is effective for asset protection purposes.

For creditors of the LLC itself, a member’s personal liability will generally be limited to the amount of the member’s investment in the LLC unless the member personally guarantees the transaction in question.

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Haik Chilingharyan, Tax Planning

Tax planning involves a wide range of strategic decisions and implementations which affect your overall estate plan. In fact, there is arguably no other area of law that is more complex and that contains as many guidelines as the U.S. tax law. In addition, there are also State and Local Tax laws (SALT). The impact of SALT has become even more significant ever since the passage of the Tax Cuts And Jobs Act, primarily because the legislation now limits the SALT deductions to only $10,000.

The understanding of such complicated set of rules is a fundamental key to tax planning. Proper tax planning is a proactive measure that one takes to arrange and rearrange their finances in order to limit his or her tax liability to the lowest amount allowed by law. The confusion often arises because people often make the mistake of thinking that by hiring somebody to file their taxes they are engaging in proactive tax planning. However, the filing of tax returns is usually a reactive activity, not a proactive one.

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