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Formation

The right structure depends on what you actually sell.

“LLC or S-corp” has no general answer. It has an answer per business model, and it turns on sales-tax treatment, liability, licensing and margin — not on which state has the cheapest filing fee.

E-commerce

Selling physical goods, and the sales-tax and inventory questions that come with them.

Amazon FBA6 min read4 deeper guides

Do I need an LLC to sell on Amazon? FBA inventory and nexus

A single-member LLC, disregarded, formed in your home state — and a deliberate decision about which entity owns the trademark. Do not open the seller account in your personal name and change it later; Amazon's verification does not enjoy that.

Dropshipping7 min read4 deeper guides

Best LLC for dropshipping: nexus and platform risk

A single-member LLC, disregarded for tax, formed in the state you actually operate from. Skip the S-corp election until net profit clears roughly $60,000 — on dropshipping margins that is a lot of revenue.

Print on demand4 min read3 deeper guides

Best LLC for print on demand: supplier nexus and IP risk

A single-member LLC, disregarded, in your home state — the same as any light e-commerce business. Spend the time you saved on the entity decision on clearing your designs instead.

Shopify / DTC4 min read4 deeper guides

Best LLC for a Shopify or DTC brand: nexus and returns

A single-member LLC, disregarded, in your home state. The entity is straightforward; the work is knowing which states you have crossed into, and holding enough cash that a reserve or a returns spike is an inconvenience rather than an ending.

Clothing brand3 min read

Best LLC for a clothing brand: labelling, duty and returns

A single-member LLC and a margin model that assumes a real return rate and real duty. The entity takes an afternoon; the unit economics are what decide this one.

eBay selling3 min read

Best LLC for eBay sellers: reselling, nexus and 1099-K

A sole proprietorship is adequate for casual reselling. Form a single-member LLC once you are sourcing deliberately, holding real inventory value, or selling anything with a safety profile.

Etsy shop3 min read

Do I need an LLC to sell on Etsy? The honest answer

Stay a sole proprietor while it is a hobby that pays. Form a single-member LLC once it is reliably profitable, you hold inventory or materials, or you have started selling anything that could injure someone.

Private label3 min read

Best LLC for a private label brand: trademark and liability

An LLC, product liability insurance from the first shipment, and a deliberate decision about which entity owns the trademark before the brand is worth stealing.

Subscription box3 min read

Best LLC for a subscription box: billing and sales tax

A single-member LLC, disregarded. Then spend your attention on two things the entity cannot help with: a cancellation flow that is as easy as the signup, and cash discipline about money you have taken for boxes you have not shipped.

TikTok Shop3 min read

Best LLC for TikTok Shop: seller entity requirements

A US LLC with an EIN, a US bank account and a US address, because that is what the seller onboarding asks for. Then plan for a return rate and a payout schedule that are both worse than you are used to.

Walmart Marketplace3 min read

Best LLC for Walmart Marketplace: entity requirements

A US LLC with an EIN and a business history you can point at. Apply once, properly; a rejected application is harder to recover from than a slow one.

Wholesale & B2B3 min read

Best LLC for wholesale and B2B e-commerce: resale rules

An LLC, a disciplined exemption-certificate process, and written credit terms before the first invoice. The tax risk here is documentation, and the business risk is receivables.

Software & digital

Products that ship as bytes — where taxability and investor readiness decide the entity.

SaaS7 min read4 deeper guides

Best structure for a SaaS company: LLC or C-corp

Bootstrapping or raising nothing beyond angels: LLC, taxed as a partnership or disregarded. Raising a priced round from funds: Delaware C-corp, from the start. The deciding fact is one you already know about yourself.

AI startup3 min read

Best structure for an AI startup: LLC or C-corp

Delaware C-corp if you are raising, which most AI companies are. LLC if you are genuinely bootstrapping. The difference from ordinary SaaS is that the capital requirement usually answers the question for you.

API business3 min read

Best LLC for an API business: usage billing and tax

A single-member LLC while bootstrapping, a Delaware C-corp if raising. The specific work is in the contract — uptime, rate limits and liability caps — and in whether your service is taxed as software or as data processing.

Chrome extension3 min read

Best LLC for a Chrome extension business: payouts

A single-member LLC, and a billing setup you have chosen deliberately — a merchant of record if you sell to consumers internationally, your own processor if you sell to businesses.

Digital products3 min read

Best LLC for digital products: sales tax, VAT and refunds

A single-member LLC once it is earning. Then decide whether a merchant of record is worth its spread — for a low-price product sold worldwide, it almost always is.

Marketplace platform3 min read

Best LLC for a marketplace: facilitator duties and 1099-K

An LLC, or a Delaware C-corp if you are raising. Then answer the question that actually decides your compliance burden: does money flow through you, or past you?

Mobile app3 min read

Best LLC for a mobile app: store payouts and withholding

A single-member LLC, and register the developer account in the entity's name from the start. Changing an account's legal entity later is possible and unpleasant.

No-code business3 min read

Best LLC for a no-code business: platform dependency

Selling a product: read the micro-SaaS guide. Building for clients: read the agency guide. Either way, the specific risk is that your entire product is a tenant on someone else's platform.

Creator

Income from platforms and sponsors, most of it withheld before it reaches you.

Courses & coaching4 min read4 deeper guides

Best LLC for an online course or coaching business: VAT

A single-member LLC, disregarded, in your home state. Elect S-corp status earlier than most models — margins are high, so profit arrives at lower revenue. Then decide whether a merchant of record is worth 5% to make the tax question someone else's.

YouTube channel5 min read4 deeper guides

LLC for YouTube channel: AdSense withholding and loan-outs

A single-member LLC, disregarded, once the channel earns predictably. If you are outside the US, your first move is not the entity — it is submitting tax information in AdSense so the withholding rate drops to your treaty rate.

Affiliate marketing3 min read

Best LLC for affiliate marketers: payouts and disclosure

A single-member LLC once income is consistent. Because there is effectively no cost of goods, the S-corp election arrives early — model it at roughly $80,000 of profit.

Influencer3 min read

Best LLC for influencers: gifted goods and sponsorship

A single-member LLC once brand deals are regular. Track the value of everything you are sent, because a large part of your taxable income never arrives as money.

Newsletter3 min read

Best LLC for a newsletter business: tax and sponsorship

A single-member LLC once revenue is real. If most of it is paid subscriptions sold worldwide, let the platform or a merchant of record be the seller — the compliance saving exceeds the fee.

Paid community3 min read

Best LLC for a paid community: membership tax

A single-member LLC once it is earning. The real work is in the terms — what membership includes, how it ends, and what happens to a member who makes the room worse.

Podcast3 min read

Best LLC for podcasters: sponsorship and licensing

A single-member LLC once sponsorship revenue is real. Before that a sole proprietorship is adequate. The entity's actual job here is to be the party to the sponsorship contract and the shield behind the publishing risk.

Streaming3 min read

Best LLC for streamers: payouts, donations and withholding

A single-member LLC once income is consistent. Complete the platform tax interview properly first if you are outside the US; that decides more of your take-home than the entity does.

UGC creator3 min read

Best LLC for UGC creators: brand contracts and 1099 income

A single-member LLC once you have repeat clients. What matters more than the entity is a contract that prices usage rights separately from production, because that is where the money is.

Services

Time and expertise sold to clients, where the S-corp question actually has an answer.

Agency5 min read4 deeper guides

Best LLC for a marketing or digital agency: ad spend

A multi-member LLC taxed as a partnership, or single-member and disregarded if you own it alone — with the S-corp election modelled once net profit is durably past roughly $90,000. Discipline about client money matters more than the entity choice.

Freelancer5 min read4 deeper guides

Do I need an LLC to freelance? Where the threshold sits

A single-member LLC once you have clients you did not get from friends. Model the S-corp election somewhere around $80,000–$100,000 of net profit. If you are not a US person, the election is closed to you and the real question is whether your income is US-connected at all.

Consulting3 min read

Best LLC for consultants: S-corp math and liability

A single-member LLC, with the S-corp election modelled at roughly $90,000 of profit and professional indemnity cover from the first engagement. Check whether your profession is one your state restricts.

Photography & video3 min read

Best LLC for photographers and videographers: licensing

A single-member LLC, and a contract that licenses rather than assigns. Your archive is the asset — the shoot fee is just the first payment on it.

Recruiting & lead generation3 min read

Best LLC for recruiting and lead generation: fees and data

A single-member LLC, with the S-corp election modelled at roughly $90,000 of profit. The specific risks are the guarantee clawback, candidate and prospect data, and how you are allowed to contact people.

Virtual assistant3 min read

Best LLC for a virtual assistant business: pay and status

A single-member LLC once you have more than one client. Multiple clients is not just good business here; it is the fact that makes you a contractor rather than a remote employee.

Still not sure which one you are?

Most founders are two of these at once. Start with the one that generates the money, and structure for the other when it does.

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