Corporate Taxation Mastery

Entity selection is one of the most foundational decisions a business owner makes. For attorneys, CPAs and tax professionals advising entrepreneurs, this decision can have far-reaching implications for tax liabilities, legal exposure, business growth, and succession planning. While many businesses start as sole proprietorships by default, that doesn’t mean it’s the best long-term strategy. This course explores entity selection through the lens of legal structure, tax treatment, audit risk, basis planning, and transition strategy, with a sharp focus on 2025 tax law updates and real-world application.

Choosing the right business structure isn’t just a box to check off when starting a business—it’s one of the biggest financial and legal decisions an entrepreneur will ever make. And if you’re the professional helping them through it—whether you’re an attorney, CPA, or tax advisor—you know this decision can shape everything from how they’re taxed, to what happens if they get sued, to how easy (or hard) it is to bring in investors or eventually sell the business.

Now, a lot of business owners take the easy route at the beginning. They hear “LLC” or “sole proprietorship” and jump on board because of their simplicity and lower startup costs. But what they don’t always realize is that these decisions can come back to bite them. Maybe not today—but during an audit, a legal dispute, or when it’s time to file taxes, those early shortcuts can turn into expensive headaches.

Welcome to Course 1 of 2 in our tax professional series, where we lay the critical groundwork for understanding business entities, compliance, and foundational tax treatment. Whether you’re advising startups, guiding new business owners, or assisting clients through entity changes, this course equips you with the essential knowledge to navigate entity structures, tax obligations, and compliance responsibilities with confidence.

Throughout this course, you’ll gain clarity on how each major entity type—Sole Proprietorships, Single-Member LLCs (SMLLCs), Multi-Member LLCs (MMLLCs), S Corporations, C Corporations, and Nonprofits—functions under federal and state law.

Course Focus:
• Structure & Compliance: Learn the operational and regulatory distinctions between sole proprietorships, LLCs (single/multi-member), S Corps, C Corps, and nonprofits.
• Tax Implications & Risk: Compare entities through the lens of risk exposure, cost efficiency, and income treatment, including self-employment tax nuances.
• Annual Requirements: Master state-specific filings, employment tax duties, and fringe benefit considerations.
• Strategic Planning: Explore retirement strategies and audit risk mitigation tailored to each entity type.

By the end of this course, you’ll have a robust framework to help clients choose, maintain, and optimize their business structures. This course is the first of a two-part learning path. Once you’ve completed Corporate Taxation Mastery, we encourage you to enroll in Corporate Taxation Mastery Plus—an advanced-level course that explores basis tracking, foreign disclosures, special allocations, entity restructuring, and succession strategies in greater detail.

Together, these two courses create a powerful toolkit for tax professionals who want to move from preparers to trusted business advisors.