Do I Need To Register My Online Business With The State Il

Here are the bones steps you'll demand to have to beginning a limited liability company (LLC) in Illinois.

A limited liability company (LLC for short) is a fashion to legally structure a business. It combines the limited liability of a corporation with the flexibility and lack of formalities provided by a partnership or sole proprietorship. Any concern owner who seeks to limit his or her personal liability for business debts and lawsuits should consider forming an LLC. For more than information on how to class an LLC in whatever state, see How to Course an LLC.

Steps to start an LLC in Illinois:

Choose a proper name for your LLC
Appoint a registered agent
File articles of organisation
Prepare an operating agreement
Obtain an EIN
File almanac reports

1. Choose a Name for Your Illinois LLC

Your LLC's proper name must exist recognizably different from the names of other business concern entities already on file with the Illinois Secretary of State. Y'all can cheque to come across if a name is available past searching the Secretary of Country Business concern Services name database. You can reserve a name for upward to ninety days past filing an Application to Reserve a Name (Form LLC-1.fifteen). The filing fee is $25.

Under Illinois police, an LLC name must incorporate as the last words:

limited liability company
L.L.C., or
LLC.

The abbreviations "Ltd." and "Co." are not allowed in Illinois. The name must besides not include the words "Corporation," "Corp.," "Incorporated," "Inc.," "Ltd.," "Co.," "Limited Partnership," or "L.P."

Using an Assumed Business Name

Yous don't have to utilize your LLC's official legal proper name registered in your Articles of Organisation when you do business out in the real world. Instead, you lot tin use an causeless business proper noun, too called a fictitious business organization name, "DBA" (short for doing business as), or merchandise name. To do so in Illinois, you must register your assumed proper name with the Illinois Secretary of Country. You may register online, or by mail by filing an Application to Prefer, Change, Cancel, or Renew an Assumed Name (Form LLC-ane.20). The registration is skilful for upwardly to 5 years. The filing fee ranges from $thirty to $150 per twelvemonth.

2. Appoint a Registered Agent

Every Illinois LLC must have an agent for service of procedure in the country. This is an individual or business organisation entity that agrees to accept legal papers on the LLC'southward behalf if someone sues the visitor. A registered agent can be an individual who resides in Illinois, or a domestic or foreign corporation authorized to do business in Illinois. If it's a corporation, its articles must authorize it to deed equally an agent. The registered agent must have a physical street accost in Illinois.

3. File Articles of Organization With the Illinois Secretary of Land

You tin can create an Illinois LLC by filing Articles of Organisation, Form LLC-five.5 with the Illinois Secretary of State Department of Business Services. The articles must include:

the LLC's name
the address of the LLC'southward main place of business
when the Articles become constructive (upon filing or a later date)
the name and address of the LLC'south registered agent
the purpose(s) for which the LLC is organized
a argument regarding the LLC's duration (perpetual or for a specified period)
the names and addresses of the initial manager(s) if manager-managed; the names and addresses of initial member(s) if member-managed, and
the name, address, and signatures of the organizer(southward).

The filing fee is $150. You can file the articles online or by postal service. Online filings are handled on an expedited basis within 24 hours.

iv. Prepare an Operating Agreement

An LLC operating understanding is not required in Illinois, but is highly recommended. This is an internal certificate that establishes how you volition run your LLC. It sets out the rights and responsibilities of the members and managers, including how the LLC will exist managed. It tin can also help preserve your express liability by showing that your LLC is truly a separate business entity. If y'all don't have an operating agreement, state LLC law will govern how your LLC operates.

For help creating an LLC operating agreement, encounter Form Your Ain Limited Liability Visitor, by Anthony Mancuso (Nolo) or use Nolo'southward Online LLC. If you create an operating agreement, you do need to file it with the country.

5. Obtain an EIN

If your LLC has more than one fellow member, it must obtain its own IRS Employer Identification Number (EIN), even if it has no employees. If you lot form a i-member LLC, yous must obtain an EIN for it only if it volition take employees or you elect to take it taxed as a corporation instead of a sole proprietorship (disregarded entity). You may obtain an EIN by completing an online application on the IRS website. There is no filing fee.

half-dozen. File Annual Reports With the Illinois Secretary of State

All LLCs doing business in Illinois must file an annual report with the Secretarial assistant of Country. The report is due each year prior to the outset solar day of the LLC's ceremony month (the month in which it was organized). For example, if your LLC was created on July 15 then your report would exist due by July 1. You lot tin can file the report online or past postal service with Form LLC-50.1. The filing fee is $75. Filing a written report late (more than 60 days after the due date) incurs an additional $100 penalty. For more information on Illinois LLC annual reports, come across Illinois LLC Annual Filing Requirements.