Forming a partnership with the attendant compliance costs (including having to file a 1065 each year) is even worse.
Must depend on the state. In FL, forming a general partnership takes about 10 minutes online and the registration/filing fee is $50. When I set up my LLC I did that online in about 10 minutes and it cost $125. Of course, a single member LLC is not anywhere near as involved as a partnership is. So setting up the LLC probably took about a minute or 2 less than it would have taken for a partnership.
All the forms are online, can be filled out online and filed online. So for FL, setting up a simple business structure for either an LLC or partnership is fairly easy. Of course, not all LLCs or partnerships will be easy or simple. There's usually a wrench that gets thrown in along the way. Regardless of the state, simplicity is rarely the norm. But not impossible.
