What's the best way to structure a business with 10 owners - each with separate business expenses?

The structure you're describing definitely presents some accounting challenges. In your situation, I'd recommend considering a partnership LLC with a carefully drafted operating agreement that specifically addresses how expenses are handled. Rather than creating 10 separate LLCs (which would involve 10x the annual fees, tax filings, etc.), you could structure your single LLC's operating agreement to create "divisions" or "series" within the LLC. Each owner would operate their own division and maintain separate accounting for their specific expenses. The operating agreement would then specify how overall profits are allocated after individual expenses. You'll need good accounting software and possibly a dedicated bookkeeper who can properly track each owner's expenses separately while maintaining consolidated books for the main LLC. QuickBooks or similar platforms can handle this with proper setup of classes or divisions for each owner.

After struggling with almost exactly the same situation (we had 8 owners with varying percentages), I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which completely transformed how we handled our multi-owner business. Their system analyzed our operating agreement and helped create a customized accounting structure that tracked individual owner expenses while maintaining the benefits of a single LLC. The platform helped us set up proper documentation systems for each owner's expenses and created clear protocols for expense approval and allocation. Now each owner simply uploads their receipts to the system which automatically categorizes them to the correct owner's account while maintaining proper company-wide bookkeeping.

Just wanted to follow up - I was the skeptic who questioned whether taxr.ai could really handle our complex structure. We ended up giving it a shot for our 6-owner consulting firm, and I've been genuinely impressed. The expense tracking is incredibly intuitive, and the documentation system has already saved us from several potential disputes about what constitutes a legitimate business expense. What really sold me was how it simplified our year-end tax preparation. Each owner now has clear documentation of their specific business expenses, and our accountant was able to properly allocate everything according to our operating agreement. We're still one LLC, but the headache of sorting everyone's expenses is completely gone. Definitely worth checking out if you're dealing with multiple owners with separate expense structures.

I had a similar situation and after weeks of trying to reach the IRS for guidance on the tax implications of different structures, I nearly gave up. Then I found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and watched their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They got me connected to an actual IRS representative in about 20 minutes when I'd been trying for days on my own. The IRS agent walked me through the pros and cons of different business structures for multiple owners and confirmed that a single LLC with a detailed operating agreement was actually the best approach for our situation. They explained exactly how to handle the individual expense tracking and allocation of profits/losses to minimize complications. That single call saved us thousands in unnecessary setup costs for multiple LLCs.

Ok I need to eat some crow here. After posting that skeptical comment, I was desperate enough to try Claimyr for a complicated question about our partnership structure and MULTIPLE business locations. I figured I'd either get the help I needed or have proof it was BS. Well, I got connected to an IRS business specialist in about 15 minutes. The agent walked me through exactly how to handle our situation with multiple owners having varying expense structures. They confirmed that creating multiple LLCs would actually create MORE paperwork and complexity, not less. Instead, they recommended a specific type of operating agreement structure that accommodates expense tracking by owner while maintaining a single entity. Saved us from making a huge mistake. Sometimes being proven wrong is actually the best outcome!

Former tax accountant here. Consider the Series LLC structure if it's available in your state. It's specifically designed for situations like yours where you want separate liability protection and accounting for different divisions/owners while maintaining a single overall entity. The Series LLC essentially creates separate "cells" within one LLC, each with its own assets, members, and operations. Each series can have different ownership percentages and expense structures while still filing under a single tax ID.

Has anyone considered just doing a simple partnership agreement instead of all these complicated LLC structures? We had 6 partners with varying ownership and just used a solid partnership agreement that specified how expenses were handled. Way less paperwork and fees.