I am thinking long term and in a positive manner. That being said, does it pay to structure your trading as a business from day one? "When" things goes well, I do not want to have to say, "I blew it my taxes are eating me alive" I would be trading from home, supplementing day job income, transitioning to full time as the account grew steadily. Are there some basics I need to cover before trade one on the business end? Secondly, will I be eligible to leverage profits away from taxes by maxing contributions to a 401k or personal plan? Any help from those making enough for this to matter would be greatly appreciated.
Forget the business. You don't need the "liability" value of a corp/LLC. Or the overhead, etc. You declare yourself as unemployed, and report the gains on the proper forms. There is several others who have do and described this method on older ET threads. Do a search - there have been numerous discussions on trading through a business, and those who "get it" do not recommend it. Do you really want to pay 15% as your own SS/FICA out of earnings since you have no employer to pay it for you? If you are US citizen, if you want 401K, then you have until April 15 to put in this and last year's IRA ($4000 a year - more if married). You can trade almost anything tax deferred that way. If futures, you open an account at a broker through a trust company - the biggest is MTrustCompany.com Don't make your life complicated