{ Wisconsin Tax | LLC legislation }
Everything Old Is New Again:
Wisconsin’s Proposed New LLC Law
W
Joseph W. Boucher, CPA, JD and
isconsin’s original LLC law became effective Jan. 1, 1994. Since then, there have been several amendments, almost none of which changed the law in any substantive fashion. The most recent change, for example, 2017 Act 177, created a student entrepreneur program and a reduced filing fee for creating such entities. Additionally, relatively few Wisconsin court decisions have interpreted the law, meaning that the statutory language itself continues to be of primary importance.
Since the LLC’s inception in Wisconsin almost 30 years ago, LLCs have become by far the Eric W. Klemm, JD most popular entity choice for business owners. In 2020, over 90% of all new entities in Wisconsin were LLCs. CPAs have undoubtedly become comfortable working with LLCs in their normal tax and accounting practices. Wisconsin’s proposed new LLC law, Senate Bill 566 and Assembly Bill 566 (S.B./A.B. 566), had its first public hearing on Oct. 21, 2021, as a joint hearing between the Senate Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs and
26
On Balance
January | February 2022
“
Since the LLC’s inception in Wisconsin almost 30 years ago, LLCs have become by far the most popular entity choice for business owners. Constitution and Federalism and the Assembly Committee on Financial Institutions. Currently, its chances look favorable to be passed yet this year and take effect on Jan. 1, 2023. It is important for all business owners in Wisconsin to know about this new law and how it differs from the old law. It is also important for all people who work with and advise Wisconsin business owners to know about the differences. The bill is, in fact, an update to all of Wisconsin’s entity laws, not merely LLCs. It includes corporations, limited partnerships, partnerships, etc., but this article will focus only on the changes affecting LLCs, which are by far the most popular entities in the state. Assuming S.B./A.B. 566 passes, it is important to note what is not changing: There are no provisions in the new law that change the tax treatment of LLCs. All tax-related
wicpa.org