Choosing the Right Business Entity in Maryland, Virginia, and D.C.

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When you start a business, one of the first legal decisions you’ll make also turns out to be one of the most consequential: choosing your entity. The structure you pick affects how you’re taxed, how protected your personal assets are, and how easily you can bring on partners or investors later.

The options, briefly

• LLC — flexible, popular with small and mid-sized businesses.
• S corporation — a tax election that can reduce self-employment tax.
• C corporation — the standard for companies planning to raise venture capital.

Why this is really a tax question

Entity choice is rarely just about liability. The more important — and more overlooked — dimension is tax. That’s where integrated counsel matters.

Talk it through before you file

Forming an entity is easy; forming the right one is where judgment comes in.