Your New Limited Liability Company (LLC) Business: Getting Started

Officially getting your own Limited Liability Company (LLC) business up and running helps protect your personal assets and individual belongings, and meanwhile gives you access to very noticeable tax deduction advantages. Submitting the paperwork necessary for beginning your new LLC business inserts a legal shield between your LLC’s liabilities and your personal assets. You also benefit from the lower tax rates for an LLC business whean compared to a corporation—LLC businesses are not treated as separate entities (like corporations) for tax purposes, so profits “pass through” without taxation to you, the owner. You only have to pay taxes based on your specific personal tax circumstances.

Although every state has its own laws, on the average, LLC businesses have fewer restrictions and requirements than corporations. The LLC’s members own (and typically run) the company—they are the ones who operate the LLC business, making major decisions by majority vote. Most states only need one LLC member to get started and to keep on doing business. In most states, certain LLC members act as “managers” to supervise day-to-day operations. Depending on how the LLC business is designed, members can have equal voting power, or it could be proportionate based on their contribution among all other members. Profit distribution is also something each LLC business can structure for itself.

Filing with your state as a new LLC business may also be appropriate if some of the owner/members live outside the country—LLC business laws normally don’t require them to be American citizens, or even residents. Regardless of where you reside, IncFile.com <link> can help you minimize the worry and hassle of getting your new LLC business started—protecting what you’ve worked hard to provide for your family.

The first official step in getting your new LLC business ready to conduct business is submitting Articles of Organization to the state where the LLC will be formed (typically with some division of the state Secretary of State’s office). State statutes will dictate exactly what must be included in the articles of organization, but the list usually includes the LLC’s name, the LLC’s business address, its owners’ names and addresses, and the name and address of its registered agent.

Even though it’s not technically a requirement, new LLC businesses will also need to compose an Operating Agreement, which lays out how the major principles for how the new LLC will perform its business operations. Having an operating agreement makes things much easier and more organized for your new LLC business, not to mention increasing its internal efficiency and external credibility, especially when negotiating with financial institutions or dealing with legal matters.

The new LLC business’ operating agreement should stipulate rules for LLC membership, decision-making, operations, and profit handling. It should define the members’ functions, rights, responsibilities, and relationships.

Specifying your LLC’s operating rules in an operating agreement also gives you the opportunity to be in charge of how you want your new LLC to be run, compared to being required to go by your state’s default rules. For example, some states have a default rule stating that LLC members must equally split up profits and losses, no matter how much each particular LLC member has contributed to the company.

Although some LLC businesses allocate one vote for each member no matter what their investment—known as per capita voting—it’s more common for each member to have a proportionate voting weight based on their share of the LLC’s investment. An operating agreement should also specify whether a majority vote is sufficient for decision-making, or whether a unanimous vote is necessary.

Many business owners delay doing the research and filing the paperwork needed to get their new LLC business up and running because they don’t have the time. Ongoing requirements can also make keeping up with government requirements a challenge—but you don’t have to do without the benefits of an LLC just because you’re busy! IncFile.com takes the guesswork, hassle, and unreasonable costs out of forming your new LLC.

Why put what you’ve worked so hard to provide your family at risk? Aren’t you ready to launch the next level of your success? Start now by selecting your state on the navigation bar at the top of the page to get more detailed information—or click on the “order” button to get a quote for the state where you will file. Don’t wait—get your new LLC business started today!