DOT Numbers and starting out as an Owner Operator

As far as authority goes it doesn't matter. Long as you have usdot you're good. Don't think mc is needed to be displayed anymore but do need to have one.

Sole proprietor vs LLC is more for legal issues should you ever be sued. If you never intend to hire someone the LLC won't protect you if you're the driver anyway. I'm sure there's also some tax differences between them. But I think your ? was more in reference to the authority part of it....

 

If you never have any plans to hire someone, sole proprietor is fine. I'm not sure how difficult it is to change your type of operation to LLC after the fact. This would be better answered by an accountant or someone who has walked this path before you.

 

Not hard to create a LLC. For tax purposes there isn't even a difference between it and a sole proprietorship, it just limits your liability as, of course, the name suggests. If you decided to make any sort of corporation, that is when you get into having to mess more with taxes, because the corporation is taxed and then what you pay yourself is taxed.

 

Consult a lawyer and an accountant to see what is your best option.

Llc does not limit your liabilities because you are an owner, manager and driver.

 

You should definitely use a lawyer to create one and ask questions about it. Or just be cheap and use legal zoom. It limits it in a way that if your company is sued, they can't take from you personally. That doesn't stop someone from suing you and the company though, which is likely if you're the driver and you do something stupid. As someone else posted, it is more important if you have employees, but you can also do it for that sweet LLC initials on your door.

 

LLC and corporations can limit your liability, just not in accident.

I have established a little business credit, something like $10,000 altogether. None of it required me as a personal guarantor. If something were to happen, they could only go after the company, and not me, unless I obtained it fraudulently.

 

Yeah, I forgot that part, probably the most practical part. Your loans are taken out as a company, rather than an individual.