Yes, you can file for an LLC on your own in any state. Every state accepts formation paperwork directly from the person starting the business, with no requirement to use a lawyer or a filing service. You will choose a name, submit a short formation document to your state’s filing office, and pay a one-time fee that generally runs between $35 and $520. A few federal steps and ongoing state obligations follow, and knowing them before you start will save you money and prevent your LLC from quietly falling out of good standing later.
State LLC statutes call the person who files the paperwork the “organizer.” No license, degree, or certification is required. Any adult who can enter a contract qualifies, and once the state accepts the filing the organizer’s role is finished.
What You File With the State
Pick a Name That Will Clear
Your LLC name has to be distinguishable from every other business entity already on file in your state. Most Secretary of State offices publish a free, searchable database so you can check availability before filing. If you want to lock a name in before you’re ready to submit, most states will reserve it for 60 to 120 days for roughly $10 to $50.
The name also has to end with a designator that identifies the business as a limited liability company. “LLC,” “L.L.C.,” and “Limited Liability Company” are accepted in virtually every state, and some states also allow combinations using “Ltd.” or “Co.” Leaving the designator off is one of the most common reasons a filing gets rejected.
Line Up a Registered Agent
Every LLC needs a registered agent to receive legal documents, tax notices, and government correspondence on the company’s behalf. The agent must have a physical street address in the state of formation (a P.O. box doesn’t count) and be available there during normal business hours.
You can name yourself if you meet those conditions. The downside is that your address becomes part of the public record and you have to be reliably present during the day. Commercial registered agent services handle this for about $50 to $300 per year. Either way, the agent’s name and address go on the formation document.
File the Articles of Organization
The document that actually creates the LLC is called the Articles of Organization in most states, and a Certificate of Formation or Certificate of Organization in a few. It is usually one or two pages and asks for:
- The LLC’s full legal name, including the designator.
- The registered agent’s name and physical address.
- The principal office address.
- Management structure — member-managed (all owners share daily decisions) or manager-managed (designated managers run operations).
- Duration — indefinite or a fixed term.
- The organizer’s name, address, and signature.
Most states have an online filing portal that validates each field as you go and processes submissions within a few business days. Paper filings are still accepted everywhere but can take several weeks. Filing fees run roughly $35 to $520 depending on the state, and many states sell expedited processing as an add-on. When the state accepts your filing, you’ll get a stamped or certified copy back. Read it carefully and confirm that the name and registered agent were recorded correctly.
What You Handle After the State Approves It
Write an Operating Agreement
An operating agreement is an internal document that sets out how the LLC is run: how profits and losses are split, how decisions get made, what happens when a member leaves, and how the company would be dissolved. Most states don’t require you to file it with any government office, but a handful require that you have one.
Create one even if you’re the sole member. Without an agreement, your LLC defaults to the generic rules in your state’s statute, which may not match what you actually want. The document also reinforces the legal separation between you and the business if your liability protection is ever challenged, and banks routinely ask to see it before opening a business account or extending credit.
Get an EIN
An Employer Identification Number is a federal tax ID issued by the IRS. You need one if the LLC has more than one member, hires employees, or elects to be taxed as a corporation. Even single-member LLCs with no employees usually get an EIN because banks, vendors, and clients often ask for it instead of a Social Security number.
Apply free at IRS.gov once your state has approved the formation. The online application has to be completed in a single session and times out after 15 minutes of inactivity. The EIN appears on screen immediately when you finish; save or print the confirmation.1Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number
Open a Dedicated Business Bank Account
With the EIN and your approved formation documents, open a bank account in the LLC’s name and route every business dollar through it. Keeping business and personal funds completely separate is one of the most important things you can do to preserve the liability protection you just paid to create. Mixing the two gives a court grounds to decide the LLC isn’t really a separate entity and hold you personally liable for business debts.2U.S. Small Business Administration. Open a Business Bank Account
How the IRS Will Tax Your LLC
The IRS doesn’t have a separate tax classification for LLCs. It assigns a default based on how many members you have. A single-member LLC is a “disregarded entity” — the IRS looks past it and you report business income and expenses on Schedule C of your personal Form 1040, just as a sole proprietor would. A multi-member LLC is treated as a partnership by default, filing Form 1065 and issuing a Schedule K-1 to each member.3eCFR. 26 CFR 301.7701-3 – Classification of Certain Business Entities
Members who actively work in the business owe self-employment tax on their share of net earnings, covering Social Security and Medicare at a combined 15.3 percent up to the Social Security wage base.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC Chapter 2 – Tax on Self-Employment Income5Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base Because no employer is withholding, you generally have to send quarterly estimated tax payments to the IRS. Underpaying across the year can trigger a penalty when you file your annual return. Form 1040-ES includes a worksheet for figuring out whether you need to pay and how much.
What You Have to Keep Doing
Filing is not a one-and-done event. Most states require an annual report (sometimes called a statement of information) confirming the LLC’s current address, registered agent, and member or manager details. A smaller number require it every two years. Fees range from nothing in a few states to several hundred dollars in others.
Missing the deadline is costly. States charge late fees and strip the LLC of good standing, which can block you from signing contracts, bringing lawsuits, or getting financing. If the delinquency continues — often one to three years, depending on the state — the state can administratively dissolve the LLC. Reinstatement usually works but costs back fees plus a penalty, and your liability protection may have gaps for the period the LLC was dissolved.
Publication Requirements in a Few States
New York, Arizona, and Nebraska require newly formed LLCs to publish a notice of formation in one or more local newspapers. The cost can be significant: New York publication fees run from several hundred to well over a thousand dollars depending on the county. Missing the publication window can cost the LLC its authority to do business, so check the rule in your state before filing.
Business Licenses and Permits
State registration of the LLC doesn’t give you permission to operate your specific business. Food service, construction, healthcare, alcohol sales, and transportation are commonly regulated at federal, state, and local levels, and many cities and counties require a general business license on top of any industry-specific permits.6U.S. Small Business Administration. Apply for Licenses and Permits
Doing Business in Other States
If the LLC operates in a state other than where it was formed — by keeping an office there, hiring employees there, or holding property there — that state will generally require you to register as a “foreign LLC.” That means a separate application, a registered agent in that state, another filing fee, and that state’s own annual report cycle. Until you register, you may be barred from suing in that state’s courts and could face penalties for operating without authorization.
Protecting the Liability Shield You Just Created
The point of the LLC is to put a legal wall between your personal assets and the debts and lawsuits of the business. The wall isn’t automatic. Courts can “pierce the veil” and hold you personally liable if you treat the company as an extension of yourself. The most common way owners lose protection is by blurring finances: paying personal bills from the business account, depositing business revenue into a personal account, or never opening a dedicated business account at all.
Keep the shield intact by treating the LLC as what it legally is. Run every business transaction through the business account. Sign contracts in the LLC’s name, not your own. Keep the operating agreement current. File the annual report on time. Those habits build the consistent record a court looks for when the question of personal liability actually comes up.