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Written by : Delmar Thalls |
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in this video we'll talk about the three main documents that are necessary for a new texas llc and explain a little bit about them you'll learn about some specific requirements texas has including one that happens every year on may 15th we'll discuss how to make changes to your llc after it's been filed and at the end we've got a little something special for you llc stands for limited liability company an llc is formed by making a filing with the texas government not the federal government each state has its own name for an llc filing in the state of texas this filing is called a certificate of formation here are some names you may have heard of that other states call their llc filings an llc is a type of business officially recognized by a state government other business entity types you may have heard of are corporations or limited partnerships llcs are the most common business entity type for small businesses if you're not sure if you should become an llc or another business entity type better legal has created a helpful comic linked in the description below called the choose your own entity adventure filing the certificate of formation with the texas secretary of state is the bare minimum of what your business needs to be legal the texas secretary of state charges 300 dollars to file an llc and takes two business days to return this filing which officially creates a new limited liability company the state of texas requires you have a unique business name within the state for your llc as well as an in-state address if you want to be called abc tile and you own abctile.com that doesn't really matter if another company has been operating under the name abc tile in texas continuously for 100 years it doesn't matter whether they have a website or not they officially own the name abc tile in texas you can search the state's website to check and see what names are already taken which we've linked in the description below the state of texas also requires you have an in-state address where they can contact you by mail or in person during normal business hours this requirement is known as a registered agent and can be a person or business that acts on your behalf you can be your own registered agent but the registered agent information is public on the state's website so if you don't want your name or home address to be public it's best to hire a third party like better legal while the certificate of formation is all that is technically necessary to be a legal llc in texas in order to function as a real business for example working for others collecting money from customers opening a business bank account or hiring anyone you'll need a couple more items it is generally accepted practice that the holy trinity of what a small business needs to operate includes an llc filing an ein and an operating agreement eein stands for employer identification number and is also known as a tax id fein or federal tax id you do not need to employ anyone to need an employer identification number it's just a poorly named term the ein is your business tax id in the same manner that your social security number is your personal tax id and will be required to file your taxes at the end of the year as you might have guessed an ein is obtained from the federal government through the irs if another business is going to hire you they'll often require you to fill out a w-9 which is a document from the irs containing your business tax id if you don't have an ein you'll need to give everyone your social security number which isn't very secure the irs requires that any company paying a contractor like you over 600 per year report how much they've paid within a year through a filing called a 10.99 the tax id you provide on the w-9 is what the company uses to file the 1099 with the irs the operating agreement or sometimes known as a company agreement is the final piece in the holy trinity of documents your llc needs to operate the operating agreement is a legal document that identifies the owners of the llc as well as the rules by which the llc operates these rules are commonly accepted practices that have been honed over many decades and explain how decisions are made disputes are handled or how owners and operators are added changed or removed without the operating agreement literally nobody knows who owns the business ownership is never filed with a state therefore without a signed legal document anyone that you've ever worked with can claim that they're partners with you going any deeper into this concept opens up an entire can of worms so just know that unfortunately things like this happen much too often which is why a signed operating agreement is so important for you to have be wary of an operating agreement that is too short as it probably doesn't have everything it needs for your business to evolve or have enough basic protections a solid operating agreement should be about 20 to 40 pages long an operating agreement is not set in stone nor is the information provided to the state of texas in your original llc filing locked forever both the information with the state of texas and the rules the business operates within are changeable a name address or registered agent change is handled by filing change amendments with the state of texas sometimes these amendments are filed online but the state can require changes to be made by fax or snail mail to change operators or owners or even change the rules of the company nothing needs to be changed with the state in this case an amendment is added to the back of the original operating agreement it's like a low-tech form of tracking changes the original operating agreement lives alongside all of the changes that have been made over the years these amendments will read something like paragraph 2.3 is removed and replaced with blah blah blah any changes to the operating agreement must be made with the approval of majority ownership unless otherwise stated in the operating agreement better legal has a unique feature called the live dashboard which allows you to request any of the above mentioned changes directly from your account yes literally we're the only company that provides this state compliance the state of texas requires that your llc file an annual compliance report called the texas franchise tax with them every year on may 15th unless you've made a little over a million dollars in the previous year your llc likely doesn't owe any taxes but the form will tell you as such if you fail to file your texas franchise tax on may 15 you'll be placed into forfeiture then have one year to pay a 50 penalty to get back into active standing if you neglect your forfeiture status the state can simply dissolve your llc if the state of texas dissolves your llc you no longer get the protection of the llc this means that anyone suing you can now go after your personal assets like your house or car because of this it is extra important to keep on top of this texas requirement but if you filed with better legal will automatically and at no extra charge notify you when your say compliance is on the horizon but we can optionally file this
Thanks for your comment Rocco Burrell, have a nice day.
- Delmar Thalls, Staff Member
Thanks for this interesting article
Thanks fontasd your participation is very much appreciated
- Delmar Thalls
About the author
I've studied linnaean taxonomy at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights and I am an expert in paleontology. I usually feel hungry. My previous job was air crew officer I held this position for 5 years, I love talking about high-power rocketry and hockey. Huge fan of James Harden I practice fly-fishing and collect buttons.
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