How forming an LLC works
Six short steps of questions, then your documents and a plan for filing with the state.
- 1
Choose your state
Most people form their LLC in the state where they live and do business. Forming somewhere else (Delaware or Wyoming, say) usually means registering again as a “foreign” LLC at home, paying both states.
- 2
Name your LLC
Pick a name nobody else in your state has, plus the ending your state allows — usually “LLC”. Search the state’s business records first; the wizard links to the official search.
- 3
Give its addresses
The principal office (a street address) and, if different, where mail should go.
- 4
Name a registered agent
The person or company who accepts legal papers for the LLC during business hours, at a street address in the state. You can be your own. A few states (New York, for one) name the Secretary of State instead and ask only for a mailing address.
- 5
List the owners and who runs it
Members are the owners. Choose member-managed (the owners run it) or manager-managed (named managers do). The organizer is whoever signs and files the paperwork.
- 6
Review and download
LLCPros checks your answers against your state’s rules, then prepares a filing worksheet, the formation document where your state accepts one, an operating agreement, an agent consent where needed, and a filing plan.
Then you file
LLCPros does not file for you. Your filing plan gives the exact official link or mailing address and the fee, which you pay straight to the state. In 11 states the filing has to be made on the state’s own form or online system; there, your worksheet has every answer in the order the state asks for it so you can copy it in.
After approval: get an EIN from the IRS (free), open a bank account, sign the operating agreement, and note your report dates. The after-you-file checklist →