buying a single member LLC

by Jennifer
(charleston,SC)

I currently own a single member LLC and wish to purchase a business that is a single member LLC with my husband. I am buying both tangible and intangible assets...keeping the name,logo ect. We want the liability protection of the LLC..How do I proceed with this purchase?

Thank you

Answer

You're going to want to speak with an attorney on this issue, because there can be tax complexities when purchasing an ongoing business.

However, one of the simplest ways to purchase the business is simply to buy 100% of the shares in the LLC from the current owner. This is called a stock sale, and is one of the more common methods for one business to acquire another.

The other way to purchase the business is to purchase all of the business's assets, and then retitle them under your existing LLC. That is going to be more complicated, and probably be a tax disadvantage, though there are times when an asset purchase would be the best move.

This is why you'd want to speak with an attorney in your state.