Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products. It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." A business entity is not necessarily separate from the owner and the creditors can hold the owner liable for debts the business has acquired.

A company often defines its business by the industry in which it operates. For example, the real estate business, advertising business, or mattress production business are examples of industries. Business is a term often used to indicate transactions regarding an underlying product or service. For example, ExxonMobil conducts its business by providing oil.

Types of Businesses

There are many ways to organize a business, and there are various legal and tax structures that correspond with each. Businesses are commonly classified and generally structured as:

• Sole Proprietorship: As the name suggests, a sole proprietorship is owned and operated by a single person. There is no legal separation between the business and the owner, which means the tax and legal liabilities of the business are the responsibility of the owner.6
• Partnership: A partnership is a business relationship between two or more people who together conduct business. Each partner contributes resources and money to the business and shares in the profits and losses of the business. The shared profits and losses are recorded on each partner's tax return.7
• Corporation: A corporation is a business in which a group of people acts as a single entity. Owners are commonly referred to as shareholders who exchange consideration for the corporation's common stock. Incorporating a business releases owners of the financial liability of business obligations. A corporation comes with unfavorable taxation rules for the owners of the business.2
• Limited Liability Company (LLC): This is a relatively new business structure and was first available in Wyoming in 1977 and in other states in the 1990s. A limited liability company combines the pass-through taxation benefits of a partnership with the limited liability benefits of a corporation.8

Business Sizes

Small Businesses

Small owner-operated companies are called small businesses. Commonly managed by one person or a small group of people with less than 100 employees, these companies include family restaurants, home-based companies, clothing, books, and publishing companies, and small manufacturers.9 As of 2021, 33.2 million small businesses in the United States with 61.7 million employees were operating.