What is a Texas PLLC?

PLLC stands for “professional limited liability company.” In fact, PLLCs are nothing more than LLCs (limited liability companies) that perform a professional service. Of course, this explanation is meaningless without first understanding the form and function of an LLC in Texas.

Choosing a business form is one of the most critical decisions that a fledgling business must make. There is no shortage of options: the sole proprietorship, general partnership, limited liability partnership (LLP), limited liability company (LLC), and corporation are just a few of the many business forms available to choose from.

Yet among this myriad of choices, one business form has skyrocketed in popularity in the last decade: the LLC. Relatively speaking, the LLC is a recent business innovation. It was created by legislatures to combine three highly desirable characteristics of businesses: (1) limited liability to owners; (2) pass-through tax treatment; and (3) flexible management structure.

Limited liability to owners is a characteristic that LLCs share with limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and corporations. This means that one owner of the business cannot automatically be held liable for another owner’s wrongdoing. Depending on the nature of that wrongdoing, the suing party may be able to recover from the LLC’s assets, or personally from the business owner at fault, but he or she cannot automatically recover personally from a business owner who was not involved. This may seem intuitive, but sole proprietorships and general partnerships—even today—do not shield innocent business owners in this way.

Pass-through tax treatment is a characteristic shared by nearly all business forms except for the Subchapter C Corporation. This is only to say that LLCs are not “double-taxed.” LLC business owners only pay income tax on their own income—they do not need to pay an additional tax on the LLC’s overall income.

Flexible management structure is the hallmark of the LLC. Most other business forms in Texas are bound by numerous statutory requirements. And while many of these requirements are “subject to agreement otherwise,” some provisions cannot be contracted around. In contrast, LLCs experience virtually complete freedom of contract regarding which terms they can dictate for their business. They are even able to disclaim the fiduciary duty of loyalty that would otherwise exist between business partners.

So how is a PLLC any different from a regular LLC? The only essential difference is that PLLCs are founded by “professionals” to conduct business within their profession. Texas law considers the term “professional” to include areas in which a license is necessary to practice (such as physicians, architects, and attorneys). But why would professionals chose a PLLC instead of an LLC? Simply put: Texas law says they have to.

The distinction is perhaps because lawmakers thought it necessary to reign in the near-absolute freedom of contract possessed by LLCs. Professionals are generally held to a higher standard than other occupations, and so it would seem counterintuitive to allow them to disclaim fiduciary duties to other partners or to clients.

The formation of a PLLC is governed by a separate provision of the Texas Business and Commerce Code than that of an LLC. Aside from this fact, the precise difference between a PLLC and LLC in practice is not obvious. It bears reemphasizing that LLCs and PLLCs are relatively recent business innovations, and case law—as well as statutory provisions—will likely continue to develop over the next several years.

***This article was prepared by Matt Lloyd and edited by Chloe Love.

Individual State Tax Liabilty for Corporate Officers

The reason that most corporations are formed are to provide limited liability to its shareholders, and to shield officers and directors of small businesses from many liabilities of those companies. However, there are some distinct areas where shareholders may have liability for the actions of the company.

One of the most common "veil piercing" comes up in situations where a company collects sales taxes as part of its operations. Many officers and directors of companies do not realize that they can be held individually liable for taxes collected and not paid to the state. An example of this, and a good discussion related thereto, can be found in the case State of Texas v. Crawford, a recent case out of the 3rd Court of Appeals in Texas.

The statute dealing with individual liability for tax collection is found in the Texas Tax Code Section 111.016 (emphasis added):

§ 111.016. PAYMENT TO THE STATE OF TAX COLLECTIONS.
(a) Any person who receives or collects a tax or any money represented to be a tax from another person holds the amount so collected in trust for the benefit of the state and is liable to the state for the full amount collected plus any accrued penalties and interest on the amount collected.

(b) With respect to tax or other money subject to the provisions of
Subsection (a), an individual who controls or supervises the collection of tax or money from another person, or an individual who controls or supervises the accounting for and paying over of the tax or money, and who wilfully fails to pay or cause to be paid the tax or money is liable as a responsible individual for an amount equal to the tax or money not paid or caused to be paid. The liability imposed by this subsection is in addition to any other penalty provided by law. The dissolution of a corporation, association, limited liability company, or partnership does not affect a responsible individual's liability under this subsection.

(c) The district courts of Travis County have exclusive,
original jurisdiction of a suit arising under this section.

The Crawford facts are probably not that uncommon; that is, a party fails to property designate a contract as taxable in the accounting, but taxes are invoiced and collected. After a tax audit shows the error, the state seeks collection against a company that cannot pay the liability, and bank accounts get frozen. The twist here is that the State tried to claim that the officers wilfully failed to pay the tax, therefore they sought payment from the officers responsible for the taxes not getting paid. Although here the court found that the business owners did not wilfully withold payment, but they do state that knowledge of the failure to pay is not required to find wilfullness.

But if you are an officer of a company, be aware that you may be held liable by the state for failure to pay state taxes (which would include payroll and sales tax collections) should the company fail to remit.

Why do Texas businesses incorporate in other states?

Many businesses benefit from incorporation. Limited liability, an unlimited lifespan, and various tax breaks are advantages every corporation enjoys. All incorporation, however, is not created equal. Every state has its own laws governing the formation and operation of corporations.

A business may incorporate in any state it chooses, regardless of where it is physically located. It should come as no surprise, then, to learn that many businesses are incorporated out of state in order to take advantage of another state’s business laws. Of all such states, none has proven more alluring to corporations than Delaware. Nearly a million business entities have legal foundations in Delaware, and that includes over half of all the Fortune 500 corporations.

Why Delaware? There are three major reasons. First, its laws are among the least restrictive to corporate decision making. For example, while many states, including Texas, require a two-thirds shareholder vote to affect most extraordinary corporate transactions, Delaware requires only a simple majority. Second, its courts are viewed as efficient and sophisticated in the area of corporate law and finance. Perhaps Delaware’s most distinct advantage is its Court of Chancery, which can date its existence back to 1792. Over the years this court has compiled well-recorded case law in corporate matters. Combined with the fact that judges rather than juries sit as the decision makers, corporations have ample confidence in the courts of Delaware. Third, the public sentiment is generally pro-corporation. People and elected officials understand that a substantial amount of the state budget comes from fees and taxes associated with businesses incorporated there, so state laws are geared towards maintaining this reputation.

If you think this is why Texas businesses incorporate in other states, you are only partially right. In reality, many do not incorporate elsewhere. For smaller or purely local businesses, there are several reasons to incorporate right here in Texas. Perhaps the biggest reason is that businesses incorporated out of state must qualify as “foreign corporations” where they do business. Since there are fees and taxes associated with this process, it often becomes more of a financial burden than benefit for smaller businesses to incorporate out of state. Another reason is that businesses incorporated in Delaware can be subject to lawsuit there. As a result, business owners may be hauled into a courtroom hundreds of miles away from their place of business (and residence for that matter). Finding a lawyer locally licensed in Delaware, or familiar enough with Delaware corporations to advise on corporate structure changes (or the expense of hiring Delaware counsel in addition to Texas counsel), is also a reason to register locally and form under Texas laws.

It is also important to understand that Texas is arguably among the three most corporate friendly states in America (Delaware and Nevada being the other two). Texas and Nevada business laws are very similar to those of Delaware, if not preferable in many instances. Perhaps the only thing lacking in both Texas and Nevada is corporate confidence in the courts. Over time, however, it would not be surprising to hear one ask the question, “Why do so many businesses incorporate in Texas?”

**This article was prepared by Matt Lloyd, and edited by Chloe Love.

Austin Lawyer Tip: Five Problems with Form LLC Formation

Many have asked the question, "why go to a lawyer when there is LegalZoom.com?" Well, for some sophisticated business persons with experience in corporate formation, it may be OK. But I have to say, having litigated a lot of disputes between co-owners of a business, LegalZoom.com is NOT a substitute for a lawyer (LegalZoom even admits this openly), and it is very often a pennywise and a pound foolish, emphasis on the foolish.

Now, I know many of you reading this may say, "of course, this is coming from a lawyer". True, I admit to some level of bias on this issue, but being biased doesn't mean I'm wrong.

Five Issues not typically dealt with in Form LLC Agreements

1. The problem of "OK, it's formed, I'm done"
There are many issues not usually dealt with in typical "form" LLC Agreements, but the worst thing is that most signers of LLC formation documents think that when the LLC is formed, everything is done. This is not true. There are so many other issues that need to be dealt with, including election of officers, delegation of duties, initial organization meeting, and many other discussions that need to take place. Now, the reality is that in single member LLC's, the member can do roughly whatever they please with the operation agreement at almost any time, but in two or multi-member LLC's, this is not the case. Think about how much easier it is to deal with issues such as one owner's death, divorce or bankruptcy than before said death, divorce or bankruptcy. Most form LLC agreements, particularly if only the certificate of formation is filed, do not adequately deal with these contingencies, or are not even reviewed by the members before signing the LLC agreement. Wouldn't you want to know whether you're going to be future business partners/co-owners with your business partner's husband or wife if they die? Wouldn't it be nice to know that a bankruptcy trustee will not hold the keys to whether your business can raise future capital? Yeah, I thought so.

2. The problem with the 50-50 ownership LLC
Split ownership sounds good..."hey we'll be partners!"...but in reality, what it means is that no one is really in control and it is management by committee. A properly drafted LLC agreement is a negotiation, and requires that the parties have dispute resolution built into their agreement, either through some sort of buy-sell agreement or arbitration/tie breakers. Nothing worse than a thriving business that is deadlocked on raising capital or operation directives. But Form LLC's are FILLED with them. And I don't get angry when I see them after disputes, I charge hourly to fight over them. But it is sad that this is almost always entirely avoidable with some element of design in the formation documents.


3. The problem with the money in the future
This is a constant problem in litigation with the "form LLC filers". At the beginning, everyone's happy. "Hey, Jimmie Joe, let's open a restaurant called JJSeras! It will be kicks!" "Sure thing, Sera Jean! Let's go halfsies!" All is fine and good. Until one of two things happens...(1)the restaurant does really well and there are disputes over speed of expansion and distribution (when one party stops working at the store), or (2) it totally does horribly and creditors are knocking on the LLC door. Well, if it goes bad, JJ and Sera are covered, right? Yeah, well, not if they had to personally guarantee the lease or credit facilities. And if JJ paid it all, but only owns 50% of the business still, how good does that make JJ feel? A properly done agreement deals with these issues before the dispute arises.

4. The problem with no exit strategy
Most people enter into LLC's with others without really thinking about how they will extricate themselves from it. How will one party buy out the other? How will it be valued? Very frequently form LLC agreements just don't deal with these issues, or are so basic that they really aren't designed for the parties involved and end up being useless. How about deciding on a person to do the valuation? How about agreeing to a system of valuators if there's no agreement? How about a buy-sell agreement?

5. The problem with majority rule
Many people who put investment money into an endeavor are not the ones running the show. Typically, those "money only" guys are doing this as an investment and gambling that JJ and Sera discussed above are going to give them a return on that investment, and are thus willing to be passive investors in the endeavor at a smaller percentage of interest. This makes the problem of the minority interest holder. I'm constantly amazed at people who put in thousands of dollars, get a minority stake, and when you look at the operating agreement, their interests are almost totally worthless because they can be practically eliminated by "majority rule". It sounds great on paper...but if you are a 10% holder, and the other guy owns 90%, and he can decide to dilute shares by "majority rule", well you're in for a heap of hurt.

It just makes sense to have attorneys review these documents. Typically it is not that expensive, and it just makes sense to have someone with experience reviewing those documents. Obviously, if you need assistance in a review, feel free to contact me at (512) 472-2300.

Marc Lippincott