Hi @Opus 17 - thank you for your detailed analysis! As you say, previously I've just thought of these businesses vaguely as "computer-related services" and declared them as a single business. My reading of my LLC's Articles of Organization and Operating Agreement is that neither one prescribes any specific business activities of the LLC. However, I realize it would require legal advice to determine whether these lines of activity can legitimately be called a single business.
To clarify a few points:
- Is it legal for me to consider my different lines as separate businesses on separate Schedule C's, but still lump them under the same LLC for liability purposes? Or are we saying that by listing them as separate businesses on my tax return I will essentially pierce the corporate veil and invalidate the LLC?
- Re "require you to do things I don't want" -- as far as I can figure, there are two main shortcuts I've taken here, theoretically: 1) listing everything in one Schedule C (which isn't really any easier on Turbotax anyway), and 2) saving time and money by not opening/managing multiple bank accounts and registering/renewing multiple LLCs. That last one is obviously a significant shortcut. (I wouldn't have bothered to open a new LLC for domain investing in any case; I just used the one I had as a convenience.) But are there other ways I've been misusing the LLC?
- Can the LLC change the nature of the business over time? For instance, I quit the web app business before starting the software consulting business, so if my LLC can evolve then theoretically it covered both. (The domain investing overlaps both, so I'll have to figure out what to do about that.)
Again, totally get that you're not a lawyer -- any thoughts you have greatly appreciated 🙂
