Does a Limited Liability Company have "Owners" or only "members" or "partners"?

Generally speaking, LLCs have owners. Those owners are usually referred to as members (as opposed to shareholder in a corporation). Sometimes people refer to owners as partners, and some (probably many) LLCs are taxed as partnerships (but they can taxed in other ways). I'm not a fan of referring to LLC owners are partners (regardless of the method of taxation) and prefer to reserve the use of the term partners to partnerships. General partners in a partnership are personally liable for the debts of the partnership. LLC owners are normally not personally liable for the debts of the LLC. This is a big distinction between a partnership, on the one hand, and an LLC (or corporation) on the other hand. Be well.

An LLC has "members" who own "units" of ownership in the LLC. This terminology was adopted to distinguish owners of LLCs from owners of corporations, who are called stock or share holders whose ownership interests are held in the form of shares of stock. This terminology has little to do with the tax code. The IRS allows owners of LLCs to elect to be taxed as either a partnership (the most common elected option) or as a corporation. That's a whole other topic, however, and the choice of entity often revolves around the pros and cons of choosing an LLC or a corporation to carry on a business venture, as there are tax benefits to both choices, but there are trade offs. A lawyer or accountant would be best to consult to decide which form of entity is best for tax purposes as well as for how you wish to operate your business. An LLC is the newest form of entity created by statute, and was an attempt to join together the best advantages and attributes of both partnerships and corporations, in tax benefits, ease of operations, and protection of its owners from personal liability (the corporate "shield). Both entities exist by virtue of state law in the state where they are organized, not by virtue of the IRS. It is state law that provides that LLCs and corporations are treated as "persons" with independent identities having the right to contract, enter into commercial transactions, sue and be sued in court, etc. the IRS simply recognizes these entities created under state law, and has issued regulations as to how it taxes the entities. The most significant tax benefit is the IRS tax treatment allowing pass-through income from the LLC to its members without first taxing the income at the LLC level, a benefit afforded to corporations so long as they have no more than 35 shareholders. To receive these benefits, the LLC must elect to be taxed as if it were a partnership, and the corporation must elect Subchapter S status, which allows this pass-through taxation and avoids tax at the corporate level.

LLC's have "Members." You may be taxed as a partnership, but you are Members, not Partners for legal purposes. Do not say "owner" "founder" or similar terms on your business cards. I hope this helps! Ron Cappuccio