Different Types of Businesses

Partnerships

A partnership is the relationship existing between two or more persons who join to carry on a trade or business. Each person contributes money, property, labor or skill, and expects to share in the profits and losses of the business.

A partnership must file an annual information return to report the income, deductions, gains, losses, etc., from its operations, but it does not pay income tax. Instead, it "passes through" any profits or losses to its partners. Each partner includes his or her share of the partnership's income or loss on his or her tax return.

http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Partnerships

In a partnership, the partners provide the capital and share the responsibility of running the business on agreement between its members. 

Partnerships are common in the same services provided by sole traders but a partnership would have the advantage of being able to raise more money because each partner could make a financial contribution. The liability for any debts of the business would be the partners.

Limited A limited company is registered at Companies House. It must operate within the Companies Act 2006and is governed by its own articles of association (companies registered before 1.10.2009 may have both a memorandum of association and articles of association). There are different types of limited company but they all have these qualities. Once registered a company has corporate personality. It is a legal entity (or legal person) with its own legal rights and obligations, separate and distinct from those of its members. The company's property is its own and is not treated as belonging to the company's shareholders and directors. The company itself can enter into contracts, employ people, sue and be sued and can be liable if it commits criminal offences. This has many practical implications. Every company has a constitution in the form of articles (or, for older companies) memorandum and articles.

http://www.companylawclub.co.uk/topics/what_is_a_limited_company.shtml

Corporative Co-operative businesses are owned and run by and for their members, whether they are customers, employees or residents. As well as giving members an equal say and share of the profits, co-operatives act together to build a better world. Co-operatives are a flexible business model. They can be set up in different ways, using different legal structures, depending on what works for the members. The definition of a co-operative business is that they are owned and run by the members - the people who benefit from the co-operative's services. Although they carry out all kinds of business, all co-operative businesses have core things in common.

http://www.uk.coop/what-co-operative