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With Just Two Minutes and $49*, Launch Your LLC Today.

Building Your Business is Expensive. Launching Your LLC Shouldn't Be.

What do you want to name your LLC?

*Package does not include state filing fees.

Nolo's Filing Includes:

  • Lock in your company name
  • Tailor-made operating agreements
  • Organizational set-up
  • Automatic error checking
  • Unlimited customer support
  • And more!

It’s As Easy As 1, 2, 3

Step 1

Start Your Profile & Select A Package

Let’s get to know your business better: Answer a few questions to determine which LLC package meets your needs.

Package LLC
Step 2

Complete Our Step-by-Step Guide

Discover our fast and easy-to-use guide for filling out your LLC’s information! Save your progress as you go and file on your own schedule.

LLC Describe
Step 3

Launch Your LLC

Once you submit your LLC’s information, we can take it from there. We’ll handle all the nitty-gritty details so you don’t have to.

Launch LLC

What Our Customers Are Saying

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  • Super Easy LLC

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    Super easy way to protect yourself at a low cost.

  • Terrific!

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    Great service! My LLC was formed quickly and the paperwork, I received in a few days. The price was reasonable too.

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    Knowledgeable easy, competent and quickly filed.

Is LLC Right For My Business?

Learn about the most common business ownership structures below

Overview

A Limited Liability Company (LLC) is a business ownership structure that allows you to separate your business affairs from your personal matters.

Benefits

An LLC can shield your personal assets from being taken into pay business debts or claims against your business.

An LLC is less complicated than a corporation. There is no stock, no board of directors, and no mandatory annual meetings.

An LLC has easy pass-through taxation (like a sole proprietorship or partnership), where profits and losses are passed to the owners and taxed on personal income tax returns.

Disadvantages

An LLC can’t “go public” and sell shares or offer stock options.

Overview

A sole proprietorship is a one-owner business that isn’t registered as an LLC, a corporation, or any other type of legal entity.

Benefits

With the owner (sole proprietor) and the business seen as one tax entity, business profits are reported and taxed on the owner’s personal tax returns.

Disadvantages

Since the owner (sole proprietor) is personally liable for all business debts, they are at risk of losing personal assets, such as their house if the business is sued.

Overview

A partnership is a legal structure for a business with two or more owners.

Benefits

Partnerships are eligible for pass-through taxation, meaning profits can be passed through to each partner’s personal income tax returns.

Disadvantages

The main disadvantage of a partnership is each owner is personally liable for business debts. Plus, any partner can bind the partnership (and the other partners) to a business deal or contract.

Overview

A corporation is a structure that allows a business to operate as a separate entity from the owners and shareholders.

Benefits

The main advantage of a corporation is that shareholders are not legally held personally liable from the corporation’s liabilities and debts.

Disadvantages

Corporations are bound to formalities like issuing shares of stocks, appointing a board of directors, and having annual meetings.

Also, since corporations are separate legal entities from their owners, the company itself is taxed on any profits that can’t be deducted as business expenses (including money kept in the company and money paid out as dividends).

Overview

A Limited Liability Company (LLC) is a business ownership structure that allows you to separate your business affairs from your personal matters.

Benefits

An LLC can shield your personal assets from being taken into pay business debts or claims against your business.

An LLC is less complicated than a corporation. There is no stock, no board of directors, and no mandatory annual meetings.

An LLC has easy pass-through taxation (like a sole proprietorship or partnership), where profits and losses are passed to the owners and taxed on personal income tax returns.

Disadvantages

An LLC can’t “go public” and sell shares or offer stock options.

Overview

A sole proprietorship is a one-owner business that isn’t registered as an LLC, a corporation, or any other type of legal entity.

Benefits

With the owner (sole proprietor) and the business seen as one tax entity, business profits are reported and taxed on the owner’s personal tax returns.

Disadvantages

Since the owner (sole proprietor) is personally liable for all business debts, they are at risk of losing personal assets, such as their house if the business is sued.

Overview

A partnership is a legal structure for a business with two or more owners.

Benefits

Partnerships are eligible for pass-through taxation, meaning profits can be passed through to each partner’s personal income tax returns.

Disadvantages

The main disadvantage of a partnership is each owner is personally liable for business debts. Plus, any partner can bind the partnership (and the other partners) to a business deal or contract.

Overview

A corporation is a structure that allows a business to operate as a separate entity from the owners and shareholders.

Benefits

The main advantage of a corporation is that shareholders are not legally held personally liable from the corporation’s liabilities and debts.

Disadvantages

Corporations are bound to formalities like issuing shares of stocks, appointing a board of directors, and having annual meetings.

Also, since corporations are separate legal entities from their owners, the company itself is taxed on any profits that can’t be deducted as business expenses (including money kept in the company and money paid out as dividends).

LLC FAQs

A business is free to form an LLC in any state, whether the LLC will do business there or not. But if you form your LLC out of state, you would still need to qualify your LLC to do business in your home state—and this means additional paperwork and additional fees. Most smaller LLCs that will operate in only one state form in the state they operate in, to avoid these hassles.
Another thing: If you form an LLC, and do business, in a state that's different from the state where all of its members live, be ready for some tax complications. The LLC members might have to pay personal income taxes in the other state on LLC income.
Also, keep in mind that not all states allow all businesses to be organized as LLCs. Some states won't let professionals, such as accountants, architects, and massage therapists, form LLCs.
Each state has different processing times. To find out your state's processing time, go to Nolo’s Online LLC FAQs page and choose your state.
LLCs are required to have a registered agent, an individual or company that agrees to accept legal papers on behalf of the LLC if it is sued. The registered agent must have a physical street address in the state where the LLC is registered. Commercial registered agent companies provide this service for an annual fee. An LLC member can also act as registered agent for the LLC, and in a few states the LLC itself can be the registered agent, but many LLCs prefer to turn over this important duty to professionals.
No. You can form an LLC by using Nolo's LLC formation service or filling out and filing the paperwork yourself. If you use Nolo's service, we will ask you the questions necessary to form an LLC and file the paperwork for you. If you have a complex question, you may want to consult a business lawyer or tax expert. And if you are trying to convert a corporation or partnership into an LLC, you should consult an attorney. There are some legal and tax ramifications to closing down an existing entity and starting a new one that are beyond the scope of our service.
LLCs ordinarily provide their owners with pass-through taxation. The profits (or losses) the business incurs "pass through" the business to the owner’s personal tax return. The profits are taxed at the owner’s personal tax rates. For single-member LLCs (SMLLCs), this means the owner reports the LLC's profits, losses, and deductions on IRS Schedule C. For multi-member LLCs, this means filing partnership tax forms. Because LLCs are usually pass-through entities, their owners can qualify for the special pass-through tax deduction created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Both corporations and LLCs provide their owners with limited liability. But LLCs require less paperwork to set up and maintain, and are ordinarily taxed like sole proprietorships or partnerships. In addition, LLC owners do not work as employees of the LLC—they are self-employed business owners. Corporate shareholders who work for the corporation must be treated like employees of the corporation.
A sole proprietor personally owns a business and all its assets. There is no separate business entity involved, so the sole proprietor is personally liable for all business debts and lawsuits. This means that creditors or lawsuit plaintiffs can reach the proprietor’s personal assets to satisfy a debt or judgment.
An LLC, on the other hand, is a separate business entity. The LLC owns the business and all of its assets. The LLC members—the owners of the LLC—run the LLC. The LLC members ordinarily are not personally liable for LLC debts and lawsuits.
Your state doesn't require you to file a written operating agreement, but you shouldn't consider starting business without one. Here's why an operating agreement is necessary:
  • It helps to ensure that courts will respect your personal liability protection by showing you have been conscientious about organizing your LLC.
  • It sets out rules that govern how profits will be split up, how major business decisions will be made, and the procedures for handling the departure and addition of members.
  • It helps to avert misunderstandings among the owners over finances and management.
  • It allows you to create your own operating rules rather than being governed by the default rules in your state's LLC laws, which might not be to your benefit.