How to Register an LLC

Register vs form vs incorporate

Two other things get called registration and are not: getting a federal tax number from the IRS, and registering a business name (a DBA) with a county or state. Both can follow an LLC registration; neither creates a company.

What registering an LLC actually does

Every state keeps a register of the companies that exist under its law. Registering an LLC means adding yours to it, by filing the formation document with the state's business filing office (the Secretary of State in most states; a Division of Corporations, Department of State or Corporation Commission in a few) and paying its fee. When the office files it, the company exists: it can open a bank account, sign a lease, hire, and be sued in its own name rather than yours.

The filing is short. It names the company, the state, a registered agent with a street address in the state, and the person organizing it. A few states ask for the members or managers; most do not. It does not ask what the business does in any detail, how it will be taxed, or who owns what share. Those live in the operating agreement and the tax elections, neither of which is filed with the state.

What LLC registration is not

• Not a federal tax number. The IRS issues that after the state registration, at no charge, and the bank will ask for it. The state and the IRS do not talk to each other about it.
• Not a business license. A license is local permission to operate, from the city or county (and for some trades, a state board). It comes after registration and is a separate fee.
• Not a DBA. A fictitious or assumed name registration lets a company trade under a different name. An LLC that uses its registered name needs none.
• Not a trademark. State registration stops another company from registering the same name in that state. It does not give you rights to the name as a brand; that is a trademark question.
• Not a state tax account. Sales tax, withholding and similar accounts are opened with the revenue department, after registration, when the business needs them.

Step 1: Choose the state of registration

Usually the state where the business operates. Registering elsewhere means registering at home anyway, as a foreign LLC, with a second fee and a second report every year.

Wyoming, Delaware and Nevada come up because of privacy, case law or taxes. They make sense for a holding company or a business with no fixed location. A company that operates in Ohio and registers in Wyoming ends up registered in both. The comparison is in cheapest states to form an LLC.

Step 2: Search the name

The state checks that the name is distinguishable from every company on its records and carries an LLC designator. Search the state's business records before you fill in the form; a conflict is a rejection.

Rules on designators, restricted words and distinguishability are in LLC name rules. Alabama goes one step further and requires a name reservation before the filing.

Step 3: Name a registered agent

A person or company with a street address in the state, available in business hours, to receive legal papers and state mail. You can serve yourself if you live there; some states make the agent accept the appointment on the filing.

Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Washington and Wyoming require the agent to accept on the filing; New York and West Virginia do not require an agent on the filing at all. Each state's rule on who may serve is in registered agent requirements by state.

Step 4: Prepare the articles of organization

The company name, the registered agent and office, the organizer, and in some states the members or managers. The state's own form, online in almost every state, asks for exactly these fields and nothing about ownership shares or taxes.

The document, field by field, and what each state calls it is in articles of organization. The states that name the members or managers on it include Texas, Arizona, New Jersey, Nevada, Montana, West Virginia and District of Columbia; the rest list only the organizer and the agent.

Step 5: File it and pay the state fee

The registration filing itself. The fee is set by the state ($35 to $520, median $100) and is the same whether you file yourself or use a service. The state publishes its own processing time; several approve online filings immediately.

Every state's fee, document, portal and published processing time is in the table below, each with its own registration page. The fee comparison over five years is in LLC cost by state.

Step 6: Register for state taxes and local licenses

A state tax account (sales tax, withholding) with the revenue department when the business needs one; a city or county business license where you operate; newspaper publication in the few states that require it.

Arizona, Nebraska and New York require newspaper publication after the filing, paid to the newspapers directly. The order and the deadlines for everything in this step are in what to do after forming an LLC.

Step 7: Get the federal tax number

The IRS issues the EIN after the state registration, at no charge, and the bank asks for it before opening the account. The state and the IRS do not talk to each other about it.

How to apply and what the IRS asks: EIN for an LLC.

Every state's registration document, fee and portal

One row per state and DC: what the state calls the formation document, its filing fee, where it is filed, the processing time the state publishes, and the paid expedite it offers. Each state links to its own registration page; the last column goes to the ready-to-file page for that state.

State fees verified October 2026 and set by the state, not by us. Online filing prices, including any mandatory extra charged at the same time; a few states charge a different amount on paper. Processing times are the states' published figures, not guarantees.

Documents needed to register an LLC

The formation document is the only one filed, and it is short. What it asks for, and who ends up on the public record, varies by state:

• The company name, with an LLC designator, distinguishable from every name on the state's records.
• The registered agent and its street address in the state. In Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Washington and Wyoming the agent accepts on the filing or on an attached consent.
• The organizer: whoever signs and delivers it. In every state the organizer need not be an owner, and a filing service can sign; several states print the organizer's address on the public record.
• Members or managers, by name and often by address, in Texas, Arizona, New Jersey, Nevada, Montana, West Virginia and District of Columbia and a handful of others. Most states list nobody but the organizer and the agent; Rhode Island tells filers not to list the owners at all.
• Addresses: a principal office, and in some states a separate mailing address or the county.

Nothing else is filed. The operating agreement, the ownership split and the tax election stay in the company's records. The state page for your state lists exactly what its filing shows.

Registering an LLC in another state

An LLC registered in one state and doing business in another has to register in the second state too, as a foreign LLC: a separate filing, a separate fee, and that state's report every year on top of the home state's. "Doing business" is defined by each state, but an office, employees or regular sales there usually qualify. That is why the cheapest state on paper is rarely the cheapest in practice; the cases where it still makes sense are in Delaware or Wyoming.

How long LLC registration takes

The filing itself takes minutes. State processing is the variable: several states approve an online filing on submission, others publish a turnaround of days or weeks, and some publish nothing. The table above shows each state's published figure and its paid expedite tiers. Online is faster than paper everywhere that offers both. The full comparison, with what delays a filing, is in how long it takes to form an LLC.

Costs after registration

The filing fee is paid once. After it, most states require a recurring report (annual in most, every two years in some) with its own fee, and a few charge a franchise or privilege tax instead of or on top of it. 6 states (Arizona, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina and Alabama) require no recurring LLC report at all. Every state's due date, fee and late penalty is in LLC annual report requirements by state, the yearly figures and five-year totals in LLC cost by state, and each state's registration page lists what follows in that state.

Pick your state

Every state and DC has its own registration page: the document, the office, the fee, the published processing time, and the registrations that follow in that state.