Startup business owners must consider the legal and tax considerations associated with selecting a particular type of business structure. This is the fourth part of a series of blogs on the tax treatment of business entities. This blog will address the tax treatment of corporations, often referred to for tax purposes as C corporations.

Like an individual person, a corporation may be taxed and held legally liable for its actions. Individual shareholders are generally not personally liable for the debts of a corporation. This is one of the primary reasons that corporations are formed. When one or more individuals form a C corporation, they create an entity with two separate types of taxpayers, the corporation, and the shareholders. As a separate tax-paying entity, a corporation files Form 1120 or 1120-A, U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return.