DO NOT CONFUSE “LLC” WITH PARTNERSHIP TAXATION

This article by a Colorado lawyer is the second attorney I have found who is using the term LLC as an apparent shorthand for a limited liability company taxed as a partnership. All of the reasons he cites are good reasons not to use an LLC are reasons not to choose partnership taxation for your limited liability company. Some of them may also be reasons not to elect S corporation status for the LLC. These are reasons to have your entity taxed as a C Corporation.

But the author seems to imply that a C Corporation and an LLC are mutually exclusive. LLCs can be taxed as C Corporations. In fact, LLC’s themselves don’t have a tax status. They have to choose one. It’s true that if a multi-member LLC doesn’t choose a tax status, it will be presumed to be a partnership. But electing corporate taxation status isn’t hard. It can be done with IRS Form 8832.

As an attorney, I prefer precision in language. “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”