[forgetsusername]

>LLCs are inexpensive, easy to set up, easy to maintain, and mitigate significant personal legal/financial risks.

Not sure what it's like in the US, but in Canada this isn't some magical easy way to escape liability. The accounting, tax burden and how you draw a salary changes significantly when you incorporate. Not to say it isn't worth it, but it isn't as simple as "do it".

>Insurance would also likely benefit you

Sage advice for any business.

[uiri]

An LLC (Limited Liability Company) isn't a corporation. It is a vehicle with limited liability. An LLC may be taxed by the IRS as a C Corp or a partnership/S Corp (same thing for tax purposes). If the LLC has only a single owner ("member"), then it may be taxed as a "disregarded entity" (ie: sole proprietorship) so its income and losses pass throuh directly to its owners' tax return.

A corporation is a whole other mess of tax and accounting regardless of which side of the border you're on. Weirdly enough, a few provinces have ULCs - Unlimited Liability Corporations - which have useful tax propertes for American corporations looking to expand their operations northward.

[cstejerean]

It's not that you escape liability, it's to limit liability to just the company without extending to your other personal assets. However it's not that simple in the US either and there are many ways for someone to pierce the liability protection shield offered by an LLC, especially a single member LLC, and even more so in situations where you aren't very diligent in maintaining a strict separation between your company and personal finances.

[csomar]

I'd like to see some proof of this. Because the court says it's not bullet proof. If you do something reckless (like dodging taxes on your LLC and naming your wife as the CEO), you'll be facing jail.

So an example of cases on how the LLC is useful in protecting you is needed.