There are majorly two issues that are faced when starting up any business: these are the legal structure and the rights of intellectual property of the business. Reference: http://www.researchomatic.com/Legal-Structure-Of-Business-151187.html

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2. Description:
There are majorly two issues that are faced when starting up any business: these are the legal structure
and the rights of intellectual property of the business. The businesses are of different natures and thus
their structures differ in different aspects. However, the business structures that are most common
include:
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General proprietorship
Sole proprietorship
Limited partnership
Limited liability partnership
Corporation
Professional associations
Limited liabilities companies
Business trusts
Professional corporations
The most common issues that differentiate businesses are:
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Taxation
Liability
Risk and control
Continuance existence
Expense and formality
Transferability
The most significant issues of all are the risk and taxation issues. Besides these issues, there are others
too that vary with each form of business.
There are only three types of business forms that are available to one-person company; sole
proprietorship, limited liability company or corporation. Other extended options such as limited
partnership, a limited liability company or general partnership are available to multiple owners
companies.
When one starts a business there is always a liability risk. Furthermore, liability risks are of two types:
tort risk and contract risk. The former risk is the unintentional or intentional harm to a person or the
property, for instance, product liability, general liability, automobile liability and worker injury. Contract
risk caters to higher risks for example, risk with distributors and vendors and financing risks.
Sole Proprietorship: It is the most common and simple form of business structure and is recognized the
same as the owner. The cost associated for the formation of such business is very small.
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3. General Partnership: It is the form of business structure where two or more people associate together
for generation of profit. In this form of business the partners are liable for the debts and these
businesses have pass-through taxation.
Limited Partnership: The general partners in this business structure share personal liability. Whereas,
the limited partners only share the risk of the capital they have invested.
Limited Liability Partnership: It is the same as the limited partnership with the only difference that all
the partners share limited liability. This form of partnership is most common in professionals such as
lawyers and accountants.
Corporation: Among large companies, corporation is the most common structure of business. Unlike
previous partnership structures, corporation is a different entity than its owner. The features of
corporation include perpetual existence, share transferability and limited liability.
Limited Liability Company: The taxation flow-through associated with LLC is not liked by the venture
capitalists. However, the good characteristic about LLC is the fact that hurdles are less with flexible
allocation of income.
Uniform Commercial Code: UCC governs businesses under state laws and has made similar state laws
for all businesses.
Reference: http://www.researchomatic.com/Legal-Structure-Of-Business-151187.html
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