If you are deciding between the S corporation and a limited liability company, you may be interested in the recent trend which shows that most business owners are choosing the LLC.

This is because it has the option of being taxed as an S corporation. As a result, you get the tax treatment you are looking for plus all the benefits of the limited liability company. Benefits include much easier business vehicle to operate and a more flexible entity that can be tailored to meet the needs of most any situation.

S Corporation Summary

An S corporation is really only a tax designation. In order to form one, you incorporate a regular corporation in accordance with state laws. Then you make what is known as an S election with the Internal Revenue Service.

In order to obtain this status, you legal entity must meet certain restrictions such as having a limited number of shareholders and generally the type of shareholders are limited to natural persons (with some limited exceptions).

If your corporation meet the requirements and you make the election in a timely manner, then S corporation status gives your business a single layer of taxation. In other words, you avoid the double taxation of a C corporation.

It is really important that as your business grows and changes, you are always checking to confirm that your business remain compliant with the S corporation tax rules. Failure to meet them, even if by accident, can result in significant tax consequences and penalties.

LLC Summary

This entity is relatively newer than the corporation but it provides the same level of personal liability protection as the corporation.

However, it was designed to be a practical vehicle for small business. The laws allow for businesses to cater the operational and governance structure to the specific business needs. Plus, you can avoid many of the corporate formalities which are not required with an LLC.

The limited liability company automatically qualifies for a single layer of taxation which is similar to S corporation. However, unlike the S corp rules, there are no requirements that must be met at all times and there is no required election. You can avoid double taxation without any risk.

Taxation Analysis

Now, there are some differences in tax treatment between LLC and S corporations and the most popular difference relates to self employment taxes. Depending on the nature of your business, there is a potential method to reduce this tax with S corporation treatment that is not available to a limited liability company.
Given the complexity of this area of tax, you should consult with your accountant to determine if S status may be beneficial to your situation. But here is the secret that until now most people did not know.

If you find that you will benefit more from S corp taxation, you do not need to form a corporation because the Internal Revenue Service allows for an LLC to elect to be taxed as an S corporation. The election process is exactly the same as you would go through if you formed a corporation for your business.

It has taken awhile for accountants to get updated on this ability and to be comfortable with the limited liability company because for years they were used to using the corporation to achieve pass through tax status. Recently, more accountants are understanding the power of the LLC and advising the use of this entity even in situations where an S election is the recommended tax treatment.

One of the benefits of forming a business LLC is that in most states, the owners of the business are not a matter of public record.

This is not the case in all states. Some state do require that members of an LLC be disclosed and in some cases their addresses must also be listed. You need to check with your state formation requirements to be sure.

For those states that do offer privacy, there are still some pitfalls to losing privacy. For one, every state requires that an LLC have a registered agent who is listed and shows name and address is available as a matter of public record.

Some owners choose to serve as the registered agent and this results in their name and address being associated with the business LLC. If you want to be kept private, you can purchase registered agent services and have a company and its office address serve this role.

Using a registered agent service will keep your name from being publicly associated with your LLC. Just be sure you choose a reputable registered agent as this role is vital to your LLC and your legal protection. CLICK HERE FOR A TOP REGISTERED AGENT SERVICE PROVIDER

Some business owners mistakenly think that if their home state requires owner disclosure, they can avoid this disclosure by forming their limited liability company in another state.  This may be the case initially with the formation filing.

However, if your business is going to be operated in your home state or will have any business activity in that state, the LLC will need to registered in your home state and foreign LLC registration usually has the same disclosure requirements as domiciled LLC.  You may find yourself paying for two registrations and annual maintenance fees without any privacy in the end.

Click Here and Visit The LLC Learning Center for more LLC information

Forming a limited liability company requires that a state LLC filing be made with the state agency responsible for regulating legal entities. One important requirement is that the proposed name for an LLC be available for use as an LLC name in that state.

When you submit an LLC filing, the state will review and make a decision on your proposed name. Generally it cannot be the same as or similar to another legal entity name registered with the state.

A DBA name filing, also known as doing business as name filing, is made at the local level. This is the county or city/municipality where the business is located.

Each locality has its own set of rules on when a name must be registered with the locality. In most cases, if the LLC is going to use the same name to promote its business as its state LLC name, a locality will not require a DBA filing. However, check with your particular locality to be sure.

If an LLC is going to use other business names in the promotion of its business, the LLC, after it is formed, should submit a DBA name filing application in its locality. An LLC may do this when it has several businesses under one LLC, several divisions or wants to associate a DBA with certain products or services.

If you are looking for the right incorporation service to form your LLC, you have found out that there are hundreds of them available on the Internet.  How do you know which one is right for you?

Here is a short list of must haves in order to avoid making the wrong choice. Choosing an incompetent or unscrupulous provider can result not only in long delays and extra cost but potentially an improper legal entity which places your liability at risk.

1. Filing Experience. While forming an LLC is an administrative process, it does require knowledge of the latest formation laws in each state and the intricacies of working with the state agency.  These things can change every year as LLC statute amends are passed and as regulatory agencies change their own rules and processes.

Unfortunately, there are too many purported incorporation services out there that put up a fancy website but have no experience in this area.  The best way to confirm experience is to look up the company with BBB (Better Business Bureau) and review any customer commentary.

2. Guarantee. One of the best indicators of a professional LLC incorporation company is one who backs its services with a real guarantee.  The most effective guarantee is one that certifies that the formation of your LLC will be in compliance with state requirements.  Also, having a satisfaction guarantee is a plus.

3. LLC Knowledge. Forming LLCs involves an ever changing process which can vary based on state.  Look for indications that your chosen incorporate LLC provider has the resources and the commitment to be able to keep up with the knowledge required to provide this service effectively.

4. Customer Support. While incorporation companies are not allowed to offer legal advice, they should have knowledgeable staff available to their customers to help with your general questions and concerns. Always look for a customer support phone number and online answers and articles as evidence.

5. Insist on a US Based Company and Avoid Resellers. Believe it or not, there are some companies selling US LLC formation services that have their fulfillment staff in other countries such as India.  And, many online formation companies merely resell the service and outsource the actual work to another company.  While this is difficult to ascertain from a website, these structures are signs to stay away.

In these cases, there is no real accountability and you want to be dealing with the people who are actually forming your LLC.

In summary, insist on using the most reputable LLC formation companies.  Having a properly formed LLC is so important to starting your business the right way and preserving liability.

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LLC operating agreements are written documents that set forth the ownership, governing and operational rules for LLC entities.  They can vary tremendously and should be tailored for each limited liability company.

LLC operating agreements are not filed with the state.  They are private documents that are kept with the official records of an LLC in the the principal business office of that LLC.

After an LLC is formed, the most important next step is for the owners of the LLC to adopt a written LLC operating agreement that everyone agrees to abide by.  This document can be very simple (such as for a single member LLC) but it can also be very complex if necessitated by the ownership or governance structure of a particular LLC company.

Because this document is so integral to the life and the operations of an LLC business, it is recommended you seek the assistance of a competent LLC lawyer when crafting one for your business.  If retaining a lawyer is not feasible or desired, make sure you start off with professionally drafted LLC operating agreement forms.

Click here to learn more about LLC Operating Agreements.

When an LLC company is formed, the Internal Revenue Code gives it a default partnership tax structure.  What this means is that the profits and losses of the LLC business is passed through to the members at the end of each year.

Because most members of LLC company businesses are individuals, the year end is typically the end of each calendar year.

After the end of the calendar year, the LLC will complete its own internal books for accounting purposes and then prepare K-1 forms for each member.  The K-1 will tell each member what his/her proportion of the profits or losses are (this will be based on ownership and the specific tax allocation provisions for the LLC).

The LLC will actually file an information return with the IRS but it does not pay any taxes.  Each member will take the information on his/her K-1 and incorporate it into the personal return which is usually due in April of the following year (extensions are available).

So, in answer to when an LLC company pays taxes, the LLC itself does not pay taxes, it reports the company profits and allocates it to the members.

Having said all of this, an LLC company also has the option of being taxed as a C corporation if it deems a corporation tax structure more beneficial.  In these cases, the LLC will pay taxes as a separate entity and will follow the rules applicable to corporations.

The series LLC is a specific kind of limited liability company that can be formed in a few states in the United States.

A series LLC is an LLC that can have separate divisions to run different businesses.  Each division will be considered separate and apart from the other divisions in the LLC when it comes to asset and liability protection.

For example, a series LLC can operate a real estate landlord business under one series (division) and a real estate development business under another series (division).

If a tenant were to sue the landlord business and obtain an expensive judgment, all the assets owned and used for the development business would not be at risk to satisfy the liabilities of the other series.

In concept, the series LLC is a wonderful mechanism because it rids an entrepreneur of the need to create multiple LLCs to run multiple business ventures if that entrepreneur wants to shield liabilities of each venture from the other.

In reality, a series LLC currently has some major limitations.

UNCERTAINTY OF ENFORCEMENT IN ALL STATES

First, it is only recognized in a handful of states so it is uncertain whether the liability protections should apply if the LLC conducts business in other states which do not have a series LLC component to their LLC statute.

If each business were operated under a separate LLC, there would be no risk of separation of assets and liabilities for each business.

SERIES LLC GOVERNANCE IS COMPLEX

Also, a series LLC is organizing multiple businesses under one legal entity and this requires the drafting of a complex operating agreement and operational procedures to ensure that each business is run as if it is a separate independent entity business.

It is a lot easier to separate each business into independent limited liability company entities and as a result you have an extra precaution for keeping them separate from each other.

SUMMARY OF SERIES LLC TREND

In time, the series LLC could become a major element of every LLC entity and when it does, the uncertainty surrounding its enforcement will be addressed.

Furthermore, series LLC forms, operating and governance procedures will have evolved and be established and these will make it easier for any series LLC business to be more easily set up and maintained.

Until then, if you choose to create a series LLC, make sure you understand the requirements and limitations in your state’s laws and consult with a competent and experienced LLC lawyer who can be sure you set up the proper paperwork to structure your businesses based on your particular circumstances.

Many LLC owners mistakenly think that because they might be the only owner or because their LLC only has a simple structure, there is no need for an operating agreement for the LLC.

This could not be further from the truth. Having a proper and customized written operating agreement can reduce your chances of being sued or your LLC facing legal disputes by over 60%.

Two of the biggest lawsuit risks that LLC related ventures face include (i) a predatory lawyer trying to get the LLC to be disregarded so that all owners will be personally liable for a lawsuit and disagreements and (ii) problems between members themselves.

In both cases, having a formal written operating agreement will reduce the risk and costs of litigation. The agreement is written evidence that the limited liability company is its own independent entity and provides strong support for maintaining limited liability of its members.

This document also outlines the rights and obligations of the members of the LLC and the voting procedures. Without one, members can later disagree on how the LLC should be run or what rights each member has and without an official document addressing these issues, the only option is expensive negotiations with lawyers or even a lawsuit.

Always have an operating agreement for LLC matters.

The LLC Expert offers state specific form LLC Operating Agreement and a single member LLC Operating Agreement package. These are professional forms that can be used as a starting point for customizing a proper document for your LLC.

A common area of LLC questions arises from business owners who are currently operating a business as a sole proprietorship but now want to move the business into an LLC.

This is the best thing you can do for yourself and your business because as a sole proprietor, you are totally and completely at risk personally for any business obligation, business problem or lawsuit.

Starting a LLC for an existing business is not always an easy process and the longer you have in business and the more assets, contracts and operations you have the more onerous it is.

Having said that, the longer you wait, the more complex it will be so the earlier you can get the process started the better.

FORM AN LLC IN YOUR STATE

First you need to form an LLC in your state of primary operations.  This consists of preparing a legal filing with your state agency that complies with the LLC formation requirements in your state.

After your LLC is formed, it is a new entity that only exists from the formation date given to it by the state agency.

OBTAIN ALL REGISTRATIONS AND PERMITS FOR YOUR NEW LLC

After formation, you will need to get an EIN# for your new LLC and register it with the state tax department and obtain any other licenses you need to operate your business. These would be the same ones you have under your current business only now you need to obtain them in the name of your new LLC.

In some instances, you may be able to transfer your existing licenses to the LLC.  Check with each agency responsible for issuing the license/permit to see if this is possible.

OPEN A NEW BANK ACCOUNT IN THE NAME OF YOUR NEW LLC

Once you obtain an EIN# for your new LLC, you will want to open a bank account for your new LLC.  You should consider using the same bank where you have your existing sole proprietor accounts but do not close those accounts just yet.

There will be a transition period where you will need to conduct banking transactions still with your old business while things are moving into the new LLC business.

TRANSFER ASSETS FROM OLD BUSINESS TO NEW LLC BUSINESS

At this point of starting a LLC, you have a new legal entity and all the requirements to operate.  Now, you will need to transfer the existing business assets to the new LLC.  You may still want to keep some money in the old bank account to cover transitionary issues.

If your business has a lot of assets, you may want to consult an attorney to help you with this.  Generally, all personal property (including money) is transferred using a document called a Bill of Sale.  Real Estate requires a deed recorded in the county where the real estate is located.  Intellectual property (like domain names, trademarks, etc.) is transferred using an Assignment document.

TRANSFER CONTRACTS AND TRANSITION BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS

This step is where it can be a hassle but not always.  If your old business is a party to contracts that are still active and required for business, you will want to assign those contracts from you(your old business) to your new LLC.

You will need to see if that can be done without the approval of the other party.  If not, you will need to call and get written approval before assigning the contracts.

Also, you may have established business relatioships and accounts with other parties such as vendors, suppliers, partners, etc.  The best thing you can do here is to call them up, tell them you are transitioning your business to an LLC and discuss with them how to properly have the LLC take the place of your existing business and relationships.

Document everything that was agreed upon.

KEEP EXISTING BUSINESS STRUCTURE IN PLACE FOR AWHILE UNTIL BUSINESS IS RUNNING 100% THROUGH NEW LLC

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It is not easy to do the transition, but the sooner you do it, the faster you will get the protection and other benefits of operating a business through a limited liability company.

It is important to know that you do not get this protection for existing business liability and for anything that may come up later related to the business activity conducted prior to the LLC being formed.

IS STARTS WITH LLC FORMATION –

The best and fastest method to get a proper LLC in place is to retain the services of a reputable LLC formation services provider. You can click here for more information about  The LLC Expert’s LLC formation services or click on this button for a $15 discount from one of the top providers of LLC formation services.

The requirements for forming a Connecticut LLC are set forth in the Connecticut Limited Liability Company Act and the agency responsible for forming and regulating an LLC in Connecticut is the Secretary of State.

CONNECTICUT LLC FILING FEE AND ANNUAL FEE

Currently, the filing fee charged by the State is $120 and there is an annual fee of $20 a year. As you can see, the costs to form on are so low compared to the huge benefits and protections of a Connecticut limited liability company.

MEMBER AND REGISTERED AGENT REQUIREMENTS

In Connecticut, the law only requires that there be one member but there could be as many members as needed. The LLC must have a registered agent and office located in the the State.

If the LLC is going to be manager managed (as opposed to member managed), it must disclose this in its formation filing.

INSIST ON A PROPER CONNECTICUT LLC FORMATION

While you can learn the rules and details for preparing your own filing to form a Connecticut LLC, you can save a lot of time and stress by using a reputable LLC formation services company to handle this for you.

Beware of inexperienced and incompetent formation companies because you risk your own liability, substantial delays and headaches with the state agency and potential other economic issues if your Connecticut LLC is not formed properly in strict compliance with the Connecticut Limited Liability Company Act.

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More Information about the State of Connecticut LLC

If you are planning on starting a small business, your business planning should involve not just business, finance and marketing but also protection and liability protection planning.

Small business lawsuits are on the rise and business owners need the liability protection afforded by LLC incorporations more than ever. It is risky to start a business. You now only will be investing your time and your money into a new endeavor but you are also going to be making decisions, entering into contracts and transacting and interacting with a myriad of other people and business entities.

The last thing you want to do is subject yourself to incredible personal liability by operating the business directly. This direct structure is known as a sole proprietorship and it leaves its owners 100% at risk for potentially large liabilities.

The LLC was created specifically to cater to small businesses. State legislatures made them relatively straightforward to form and easier to maintain and operate.

Do not risk your own liability and loss of your personal assets. Complete the LLC incorporation process prior to conducting in any business activity.

A limited liability corporation is a term often used to describe an LLC under state law.  The LLC laws of most states do not require that an LLC have officers.

An officer typically includes a President, Treasurer and Secretary.  Each of these officer roles were traditionally defined in the corporation legal structure and each of them has defined roles and authority when operating a business.

While officers are not legally required for a limited liability corporation, it is recommended that one have officers.  This is because it is expected that a serious business will have senior officers.  As a business, you will need to interact and conduct transactions with other parties such as banks, suppliers, partners, government agencies and landlords.

Each of these parties will want to know who the senior officers are and who has authority to act and make decisions on behalf of the LLC business.

Rather than risk losing the business transaction or losing credibility with your business colleagues, it is the better path to appoint at least these three major officer roles as the inception of an LLC once formed.

You can always provide for specific methods too remove or replace an officer in the LLC operating agreement.  One person can hold multiple officer roles- this is typical in a small business or a single owner LLC.

This question is very open ended. Most people will register an LLC to create a legal entity for operating a business. The LLC registration is the most important step but it is only the first step.

LLC registration involves preparing and submitting a legally compliant filing with the state agency in the state where you want your LLC to be formed. Once the state processes the LLC, your LLC legal entity is in existence.

However, at that point, it is merely a shell entity. It is up to you to give the LLC owners and provide it with its own set of rules and governance procedures. This is typically done by executing and adopting an LLC operating agreement which acts as an owner and user manual for the LLC business.

After taking care of the LLC structure, a new business also should complete other required registrations such as obtaining federal and state tax identification numbers and obtaining a business license at the local level.

Depending on your business, there may be other licenses and permits required (for example a sales tax license if you are selling goods or a professional license if your business activity is regulated by another agency.

The LLC registration is important because it creates the vehicle for your business and so you need to be sure it is done properly.  Visit The LLC Expert for more information about LLC Formation. , After formation, remember that running a business involves a myriad of other ongoing requirements, processes and activity.

Many single member LLC owners mistakenly think that because their business only has one owner, it cannot be a manager managed LLC.  This is wrong.

In fact, many times, a business gets too large or complex for the one member to be able to handle all the management of the business.  In such a case, he/she will want to appoint other managers and have a Board of Managers or at least hire a slate of officers to help with day to day management.

Any limited liability company, regardless of the number of owners, can choose a member managed or a manager managed governance structure.  And, even within each of those structure, the LLC can be tailored with specific operational and governance rules that are necessary for that business.

The decision and the details of a manager managed LLC is evidenced in the single member LLC operating agreement.  It is important to document the structure and for the LLC to follow the provisions set forth in that agreement.

If you are appointing an outside manager for an LLC corp, make sure that he/she understands what authority and what limitations are part of the role.  And, always retain the ability to remove a manager with or without cause.

In order to form an LLC, an LLC registration filing needs to be made with the state agency that handles legal entities.  This is usually the Secretary of State for most states but a few states use a different agency name.

An LLC Registration usually consists of  a set of documents which contain the required disclosures by the state.  In addition, an appropriate fee must be made.

Once an LLC has been formed, it is authorized to conduct business in its state of formation.  But, in order to conduct business in other states, that LLC must also complete an LLC registration in such other states.

Each state imposes it own set of rules and requirements for what must be done in order for an LLC to register and do business in the state.  Once registered, it can conduct business in other states but the LLC retains the citizenship of its original state of formation.

A limited liability company is not the substitute for business insurance.

A limited liability company provides personal limited liability protection which prevents an owner of the business from being liable for “business” obligations merely because he/she is the owner. This gives you protection that a sole proprietor does not and is a tremendous benefit because all businesses will have to subject themselves to risk as a necessary component of running a business and small business lawsuits are file all the time.

However, a business LLC is never a substitute for business insurance.

First, business insurance exists to protect the LLC business itself (and assets held by the business) from certain liabilities in case the business is sued. The LLC protection is there primarily to protect the personal assets of the owners from business liability but not the business assets themselves. Insurance can do this.

Second, the LLC protection does not apply to every situation where an owner could be held liable for a business related action. For example, if you are a personally negligent (ex. you were in a company car and were at fault in causing an accident) when running your business, someone can still sue you personally for being personally negligent.

You cannot avoid personal actions liability merely because you own an LLC. Insurance can help to covers some of these situations (accident insurance, professional liability insurance, auto insurance, employment acts, etc.).

The LLC Expert offers a popular ebook- The Six Step LLC Formula for Limited Liability Protection which provides a more detailed explanation of business LLC liability limitations so you can better understand them as an LLC operator and plan for them. There is a section explaining insurance.

Both the LLC and the S corporation offer personal limited liability protection to the owners of each entity.

Both the LLC and the S corporation offer a single layer of pass through taxation so profits of a business run through either of such entities are not subject to the double taxation of C corporations.

The difference comes in when it comes to qualification and to operations.

QUALIFICATION FOR SINGLE LAYER OF TAX

An LLC is formed under state LLC law requirements and once a limited liability company is formed, it automatically qualifies for a single layer of taxation under the Internal Revenue Code. There are no conditions, no filings and no requirements to obtain this preferred taxation structure.

With an S corporation, the owners have to first form a regular corporation under state corporation laws. Once formed, the owners of the corporation and the corporation itself must meet a laundry list of conditions and requirements.

I will not list them here but examples include limitations as to who can be an owner, where owners can reside, and limitations on how the equity is structured in the S corporation.

It is important to know that the S corporation must not only meet these conditions and limitations at inception but throughout its existence so there is an additional, potentially onerous requirement to ensure that as the business grows and changes, it never fails to meet these requirements.

Even accidental noncompliance can result in large tax obligations.

After a corporation has determined it meets and will be able to continually meet the S corporation rules, the corporation must file an election form with the IRS to elect S corporation treatment.

OPERATIONS AND GOVERNANCE

An S corporation is a term defined in the tax laws to qualify a regular corporation for the single layer of pass through taxation (known as partnership taxation). From a non-tax perspective, the S corporation must meet all the formalities and requirements of a regular corporation under state law.

This generally means that it must have a Board of Directors and hold annual shareholder and director meetings. There are more governance formalities and requirements expected out of a corporation.

An LLC is not subject to such formalities and an LLC can tailor its operational and management rules and structures to however it sees fit. In summary, there are less formalities and more flexibility when it comes to using an LLC for operating a business.

SELF EMPLOYMENT INCOME

There is an advantage to being an S corporation when it comes to self employment income. If you plan on running a business that will be generating substantial profits – more than what you would be paid in salary as an executive of a company that runs your business, there is an opportunity to avoid paying self employment taxes on the amount that would be in excess of a reasonable salary to you.

While this can be a significant benefit of an S corporation under the self employment tax laws, the tax laws actually allow an LLC to elect to be taxed as an S corporation (assuming it meets the same conditions and requirements).

What does this mean? This means that when your business gets to a level of producing enough income that the self employment benefit becomes relevant, your LLC can elect S corporation status and gain the same tax benefits.

However, because your entity is an LLC, you still get the lesser formalities and more flexibility under state law to continue to run your business according to your particular needs and circumstances.

So when considering whether to form an LLC or S corp, the S corp was the old way of gaining tax benefits. The LLC is the new legal entity that both state legislatures and the IRS deem to be relevant for the typical small business owner.

It does not bog owners down with legal requirements and formalities and it allows flexibility to accommodate the most simple to the most complex of business requirements.

The process for how to start an LLC depends on your state of formation.

But in every case, you must know that a limited liability company does not exist until the processing for its formation has been fully completed and processed by the state agency responsible for forming LLCs.

The only way to know if one has been completed is when the state shows the existence of your LLC in its records. It is important that you not engage in any business until the LLC is formed as formation is a prerequisite to gaining the benefit of limited liability protection provided by the legal entity.

Now, how to start an LLC. Each state has its own set of rules and requirements which must go into a filing made to the state. First, there are name rules which govern what kind of name you can give your LLC. You can look these up in the laws or just call your state agency and have them check whether your desired name is acceptable.

Second, there is a registered agent requirement. Every LLC is required to have a registered agent appointed. Each state has its own set of registered agent rules. These can be found in the state’s LLC laws.

Third, there will be a set of disclosure requirements which vary from state to state. Some states require very little information while others have some onerous disclosures. For example, Texas requires that all members and their addresses be listed for member managed Texas LLC entities. These requirements are found in the organization provisions of the LLC laws.

Fourth, you need to determine processing times and the proper filing fee. Always, always, always understand the processing times for your filing. In states like California and Delaware, a normal filing will take more than 6 weeks! This is not acceptable for most people who want to start an LLC for a business.

The good news is that those states as well as most other states offer an expedited process for additional fees in which your LLC can be formed in a week or even a day if the proper fee is paid.

As step 4, determine what processing time you need and the fees to be paid. Also, make sure you find out exactly who you need to write the check out to. This can prevent your filing from being rejected and delayed.

Fifth, prepare and submit your filing. Once processed, your LLC has been formed and started.

At this point you have a shell LLC. So, you need to provide it with its own rules and create members and a management structure. This is typically done with a written LLC Operating Agreement.

Finally, you will want to obtain federal and state tax ID numbers for your new LLC.

Because there are so many variations and intricacies imposed by each state, the best approach is to hire a reputable LLC filing service to handle it for you.

The LLC Expert offers LLC formation services in some states (go to our Form an LLC page.

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