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Explain the major differences between a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, S-corporation, and a limited liability company.

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A sole proprietorship is a business organization where a single person operates a small operation. The individual entrepreneur is the business, so they also take on all the liability. It is difficult to sell a good or service that is risky for the customers or employees, so these businesses tend to be simple and safe.
A partnership is similar to a sole proprietorship except that there can be multiple owners of the firm. The owners are not protected and this organization is not good for riskier endeavors.
A corporation is actually a legal person. An entrepreneur would want to organize their business this way if there is some risk of harm to consumers or employees. Since corporations are legal people, they also have to pay taxes. This is the main drawback to organizing this way, however, for riskier businesses, this trade-off is worth it. In most US states, entrepreneurs can organize as a corporation and retain private ownership.
An S-Corporation is a small corporation with fewer than 100 shareholders. S-corporations can also not have multiple classes of stock.
A limited liability company often called an LLC, is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a corporation. It is not technically a corporation in most US states. The entrepreneur and employees' personal assets are protected, however, the tax liability varies from state to state and how the business chooses to file federal taxes.

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