Free PDF Guide
The Business Entity Structures Guide
The entity is a tax decision as much as a legal one. How LLCs, S corps, and C corps really differ — and how profit, payroll, and your exit plans pick the right one.
What’s inside
What each structure actually is
Sole proprietorship, LLC, S corp, C corp — what changes legally, what changes for taxes, and why the two are not the same question.
The self-employment-tax math
Where the S corp saves real money, the payroll costs that eat into it, and the profit level where the election starts to pay.
The QBI layer
How the Section 199A deduction interacts with entity choice and salary — and why more S corp salary can shrink your deduction.
Reasonable compensation, done defensibly
What the IRS actually looks for in an S corp owner's salary and how to set a number you can stand behind.
When the C corp deserves a look
The flat 21% rate, double taxation in practice, and the QSBS exclusion that can make C corp stock extraordinarily valuable at exit.
Switching structures
The timing, the elections and paperwork, and the traps when your business outgrows the entity it started in.
Written by Jim Crider, CFP®, founder of Intentional Living FP — a fee-only fiduciary wealth management firm in New Braunfels, Texas.
Get the guide
Tell us where to send it and the PDF is yours — free.
This guide is educational only and is not specific financial, tax, or legal advice. Tax figures reflect 2026 rules and are subject to change. Fee-only fiduciary · No commissions · Always on your side of the table.