The Consumer's Guide to Wisconsin Law also is available in a 64-page, booklet format, professionally printed and bound. Choosing an organization for your business is similar to buying a new car. You have to know what models are available and which of those models has the features and options that fit your needs. It's a business with one owner who makes the management decisions. The owner and the business are one and the same, with a common identity.
Sole proprietorship is the simplest business organization.
There almost are no legal formalities to forming a sole proprietorship, so it's relatively easy. The main step is obtaining a federal employer identification number from the IRS by filing Federal Form SS-4. As the owner, you pay Social Security through the self-employment tax rather than FICA, and you have to make periodic estimated tax payments on income from the sole proprietorship. A partnership is simply an association of two or more persons, as co-owners, who carry on a business for profit. A partnership can be either a general partnership or a limited partnership.