Business Entity Regulations Pertaining to a Medical Practice in the State of Florida
While no organization is absolutely correct for any business or situation, there are characteristics of the laws that apply to each that would suggest one form would be a better fit. First decide which legal form of business organization will be the most advantageous. In the state of Florida businesses are established into one of three legal forms: the sole proprietorship, the partnership, or the corporation. The legal form chosen is contingent on the organizations funding requirements, legal restrictions, and amount of liability inherent in the business, the nature of the business, the number of employees, tax considerations, and perpetuation of the enterprise (DBPR, n.d., p. 2)
The author of this paper works in a medical practice residing in the state of Florida. This organization is a corporation, and formed its business as a Professional Practice Entity. All states permit professionals such as physicians, accountants, lawyers, and dentist to incorporate their professional practices.
These practices have a number of options as to their form of business entity such as, Professional Corporations (P.C.s), these provide limited liability for general business debts but not for the professional's own malpractice, and no limited liability for malpractice of fellow practitioners in the firm. They may be C corps or S corps, which are subchapters of a corporation. Unlike many other C corps, a P.C. C corp. can use the cash method of accounting, which is used in the medical practice of this author. The professional corporation is identical to a business corporation in most respects. A P.C. is formed only by filing with the secretary of state, and is managed by a board of director, ...