What percentage of companies in the US (or California) are C
Corporations?  Ideally, I'd like a breakdown of the percentage of C
Corporations; S Corporations; and LLC's.

---

Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 14 Nov 2004 07:23 PST

Hi Tflan,

Could you please clarify if the information in the first table of the
following webpage would be what you require.
http://www.bizstats.com/businesses.htm

Thanks,
Bobbie7

---

Request for Question Clarification by markj-ga on 14 Nov 2004 08:34 PST

tflan --

The most difficult part of this question is trying to locate complete
"apples-to-apples" information.  I can do that for you for the 1999
tax year, if that would be recent enough information to suit your
purposes.  That is, I can give you the number of LLCs, C corporations
and S corporations that filed California state tax returns and federal
tax returns for the 1999 tax year.

Athough I have found 2001 information on C and S corporations in
California and for LLCs nationally, I don't yet have the rest of the
information you want for that year.

Would the complete set of 1999 information suit your purposes, along
with the partial information for 2001?

markj-ga

tflan-ga,

According to the 2002 annual report (the most recent available) of the
California Franchise Tax Board:



http://www.ftb.ca.gov/aboutftb/annrpt/2002/2002ar.pdf



the following data -- found in the table "How Businesses Report Income
in California" -- describe the breakdown of business tax returns in
California for 2001:


S corporations...........202,076

C corporations...........317,980

LLC's.....................96,731

Partnerships, 
  LP's, &LLP's...........188,096

Sole Proprietorships...2,159,196


The report also provides additional details about the amount of profit
or loss reported by these various categories, as well as other
categories such as Estates, Tax Exempt Organizations, and so forth.

I didn't provide percents -- as your question originally asked --
since the percents would depend greatly on what categories of
organizations were included/excluded in your calculations.  However,
let me know if you would like be to pursue this further.

There does not seem to be similar breakdowns available at the federal
level, although the IRS does report on the number of S-corporations
that annually file tax returns...again, let me know if this of
interest to you.


I trust this information fully meets your needs.  But before rating
this answer, please let me know if you need any additional
information.  Just post a Request for

Clarification, and I'll be glad to assist you further.


Cheers,


pafalafa-ga



search strategy -- Google search on: [ california corporations
statistics "s corporation" "c corporation" llc ]

tflan --

As I noted in my clarification request, there are indeed breakdowns of
LLC and S corporation filings at the federal level (and a way to
derive the number of C Corporation filings).  Also, the percentages of
each type of filing entity can be derived (at least fairly reliably)
at both the federal and state level.

And, of course, the 2001 California information provided above is the
same data that I referenced in my clarification request.

If pafalafa-ga does not come up with the rest of the information you
have requested, I am still ready and able to provide it, if you care
to post a separate question.


markj-ga

tflan --

I am going to be available only sporadically for the next week, so I
am going to post my essential information in summary form now, and I
am sure that pafalafa-ga will be able to answer any questions you
might have about it.

First, to complete the information on LLCs, here is a link to a PDF
file from the IRS's website that contains data on the total federal
partnership returns filed by domestic limited liability companies
(LLCs). Data is provided for each year from 1991-2001:

IRS: Number of Partnerships by Type of Entity and Profit Status, Tax
Years 1991-2001
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/01partnr.pdf

This information is found in Table 1 on page 9 of the document.  The
textual material on LLCs begins on page 8.

The number of LLCs nationwide as indicated by this table may be
slightly understated because single-owner LLCs and LLCs made up of
only a single individual or corporation do not file the "partnership
reporting forms" that are tallied in the above-cited report.  The most
common type of LLC, though, is multiple-owner, and the large majority
of those file these partnership forms.  Thus this number should be
taken as an approximation on the low side of a nationwide total.  Here
is a link to an IRS source for this information:

IRS: Tax Issues for Limited Liability Companies
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p3402.pdf


California treats LLCs for tax purposes the same way that the IRS
does, so the California data provided by pafalafa-ga may be comparable
to the IRS data provided above.  Here is a summary of California tax
reporting treatment of LLCs:

"Pass-Through Taxation. Federal tax law normally treats an LLC like a
partnership, unless the LLC elects to be taxed as a corporation (by
filing IRS Form 8832 -- see Section A2, above). The California
Franchise Tax Board treats a California LLC for state income tax
purposes as it is treated for federal income tax purposes. .  .

"If an LLC is treated as a partnership at the federal and state
levels, it files standard partnership tax returns (IRS Form 1065,
Schedules K and K-1) with the IRS and state, and the LLC members
(owners) pay taxes on their share of LLC profits on their individual
income tax returns. An LLC that elects corporate tax treatment files
federal and state corporate income tax returns."

Nolo.com:  How to Form Your Own California Corporation
http://www.nolo.com/lawstore/products/product.cfm/ObjectID/36587766-936D-4BD0-8AD85D5DB13B6416/sampleChapter/2



As for federal data on S Corporations and C Corporations, here is a
linked site with a breakdown of the number of tax returns filed by
both tyoes of entities for each year from 1978-2000:

House of Representative: BACKGROUND AND PROPOSALS
RELATING TO S CORPORATIONS (Staff Report of the Joint Committee on Taxation
http://www.house.gov/jct/x-62-03.pdf

The information is found in that document in "Table 1.--Number of
Different Types of Business Returns Relative to All Business Returns,
1978-2000," on page 11.


I hope that this information is useful to you.

markj-ga