Best way to handle CA SMLLCs owned by C-corp (Form 568 + Form 100) in Lacerte?

[tony77777]

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to confirm the most efficient workflow in Lacerte for California single-member LLCs owned 100% by a C-corporation.

Fact pattern:

• Parent is a U.S. C-corp filing Form 1120 + CA Form 100.

• The C-corp owns one or more CA SMLLCs (disregarded entities).

• For California, each SMLLC needs a separate Form 568 ($800 LLC tax + LLC fee), but all of the LLC income is also reported on the C-corp Form 100.

Right now my process in Lacerte is:

1. Enter all LLC activity in the C-corp 1120 client, and prepare CA Form 100 there.

2. Create separate LLC clients in the Partnership module for each SMLLC, mark them as single-member disregarded, turn on CA, and manually enter gross receipts/limited P&L just to generate Form 568.

My questions:

1. Is this the recommended / expected workflow in Lacerte for this situation?

2. Is there any easier or more automated way to handle CA SMLLC Form 568s that are owned by a C-corp (e.g., link to the corp file, import data, or avoid duplicate entry)?

3. Any tips/best practices to reduce duplicate work or potential mismatches between the C-corp and LLC files?

Thanks in advance for any guidance or tricks you use in your own practice

[Kathi_at_Intuit]

Hi @tony77777 Glad to see you in the Community, and thanks for posting! While Lacerte Support won’t be able to confirm whether this is the expected workflow, they can help guide you on the input needed to generate the forms. Their insight may spark ideas or highlight steps you may not have considered.

We look forward to seeing you around the Community. 

[tony77777]

Hi Kathi,

This appears to be a Lacerte software workflow issue, since CCH handles California single-member LLCs owned by C corporations more smoothly. Because the LLC is a disregarded entity, we should be able to report the CA Form 568 within the C-corp tax return interface.

However, unlike the Individual SMLLC workflow in Lacerte, the C-corp SMLLC workflow seems to require switching to a partnership module in order to create another LLC under the partnership return—which doesn’t make sense for a disregarded entity. I wanted to check whether Lacerte has an alternative workflow that I may not be aware of.

Please let me know if there is a recommended approach within Lacerte for this situation. Thank you!