Editor’s note: This is part 15 of an ongoing series about using trusts and LLCs in estate planning, asset protection and tax planning. The effectiveness of these powerful tools — especially for asset protection and tax planning — depends very much on how they are configured to work together and whether certain types of control over assets and property are surrendered by the property owner. See below for links to the other articles in the series.
A global trend in deregulating and automating legal services is offering consumers of legal services automated, inexpensive LLC formation options. In all areas of life, an inexpensive price usually comes with high costs that are unforeseen. Unfortunately, none of the inexpensive LLC services has a complete rubric for guiding people through the ever-changing state and federal legal issues that must be navigated during an LLC’s formation. The many misunderstood and overlooked facets of LLCs cause big problems in the form of tax non-compliance, unexpected tax assessments, audits, federal rule and regulations violations and a lack of asset protection.
