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Written by : Kenneth Blasing |
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are you wondering how to start an llc in colorado today you will learn about the most common ways to start your business including the correct forms you'll need how to register your llc critical naming requirements and all other vital tips and tricks then as a bonus later on in the video i will reveal to you a trustworthy registered agent who will help set up your llc for free so make sure to stick with me until the end the state of colorado like other states has several specific llc requirements there are three main ways you can start an llc in colorado first is the diy or do-it-yourself process where you mostly depend on colorado state's website the second way is hiring a professional service that practically offers more efficiency and security in the process of creating your llc while the third one is hiring an attorney we will skip the attorney hiring portion because that's expensive and most business owners won't need that service first let's take a look at the steps required for starting an llc on your own step one name your business before anything else you will have to think of the llc's legal business name each llc in colorado must have a distinct llc name that is not currently in use you must include the terms limited liability company or an abbreviation such as llc you cannot include phrases such as a corporation which would lead people to believe you are a different business organization knowing if your business name is taken or not is very easy just go to google and type in the words business entity records colorado secretary of state and click the first search result i also have the link in the description below for your convenience it will lead you to a landing page of business entity records in colorado scroll down a little and you will see some search options which make checking the availability of your business name easier generally you can click the first option entity name and type in your business name for example i am typing a very common business name here best dentist which will give you a list of existing business names a unique business name will say no matches found just like this random name i typed in keep in mind that the division of revenue doesn't check names for trademark compliance it's ultimately up to you and your business attorney to ensure that your llc's name doesn't infringe on any other company's rights step two colorado requires llc to have a registered agent an agent has a physical address a po box is not allowed and is available during business hours this agent will serve as the llc's primary point of contact for receiving key legal papers tax warnings summons subpoenas and so on you can register yourself or someone in your company but i highly recommend getting a professional registered agent as they have more knowledge by protecting your company in cases of possible cracks while i agree that family members or friends are reliable enough to be trusted as your llc's agent you are more comfortable sleeping at night knowing that your agent is professional and trained to manage legal documents to avoid problems concerning court schedules filing reports with the secretary of state etc besides hiring a professional registered agent is not expensive in fact there are companies that offer a free registered agent as part of your package when you form your llc through them inc file is a company i recommend which has this free service inc file offers a free registered agent on your first year of signing up for their service during that free year you can already take advantage of a professional and trained agent to receive legal documents on your behalf a dashboard where you can always access the correspondence that your agent has received as well as email notifications and automatic forwarding whenever your registered agent receives documents step 3 filing the colorado llc certificate of formation after that you must file the certificate of formation with the colorado secretary of state's business entities division and the office of the judge of probate to officially incorporate a domestic colorado limited liability company the colorado state filing cost for llcs is 50 for both domestic llcs and 100 for foreign llcs basically a domestic llc means that you are already a resident of colorado and you want to build a business in colorado foreign llc on the other hand is for people living outside colorado but wanting to start a business or a franchise of their business in colorado with that said most businesses would be applying for a domestic llc you can file the certificate of formation online or by mailing it to the secretary of state expect the llc certification process to take approximately two weeks this is three to four days for the judge of probate and ten days for the secretary of state step four prepare an operating agreement now an operating agreement is a good idea to have in place with the other members if your llc has more than one member although a limited liability company operating agreement is not necessary for colorado your operating agreement should clarify how your company or business will handle big picture issues such as allocating earnings and losses and dissolving the company your operating agreement should also cover the transfer of membership interest profits or losses and distributions initial investments decision-making powers voting rights and management and lastly dissolving the business step 5 file periodic annual reports colorado llcs must file a periodic report with the colorado secretary of state each year the report must be filed online at the secretary of state website the filing fee is ten dollars the periodic reports are due during the three-month period beginning on the first day of the anniversary month of the month when the llc was formed for example if you formed your sm llc on june 15th the report would be due each subsequent year between june 1st and august 31st you can also file the report up to two months early you may sign up for email notification from the secretary of state to alert you when the periodic report is due for more information see colorado llc annual report and tax requirements step 6 obtain an ein an ein or employer identification number is a federal tax id issued by the irs your ein is used by them to readily identify your firm and tax filings all colorado firms pay a business privilege tax and the state requires you to have an ein to file you may also be required to provide your ein when opening a bank account or applying for municipal permits or licenses obtaining an ein is a slightly longer process compared to their previous steps i'm sure you know anything to do with the irs is confusing first you have to have complete knowledge of your llc such as your company information managing member information business address business information company details and even critical information regarding vehicular assets and federal excise taxes this is another reason why getting a professional registered agent is way more convenient as they can do this for you as part of their service now let's talk about the second option to form an llc and that
Thanks for your comment Rosalyn Cobo, have a nice day.
- Kenneth Blasing, Staff Member
want to quickly start an LLC in Colorado for free I will help you do just that in the step-by-step tutorial I'll make sure to cover any critical requirements and important tricks that you should not miss when forming your LLC then also as a bonus later on in the video I'll show you a trustworthy registered agent who helps set up your LLC for free and save you the time and hassle so make sure to stick with me until the end let's first take a look at the steps required of performing an LLC by yourself Step 1 name your business before anything else you'll have to think of the llc's legal business name each LLC in Colorado must have a distinct LLC name that is not currently in use you must include the terms limited liability company or an abbreviation such as LLC you cannot include phrases such as corporation which would lead people to believe you are a different business type finding out if your business name has been taken or not is very easy simply go to Google and type in the words business entity Records Colorado Secretary of State and click the first search result I'll also leave the link in the description below for your convenience it'll lead you to the official page of business entity records in Colorado scroll down a little and you will see some search options which makes checking the availability of your business name easier generally you can click the first option entity name and type in your business name for example I'm typing a very common business name here A1 cleaning service which will give you a list of existing business names a unique business name will say no match is found just like this random name I typed in the secretary of state must reserve the llc's trade name before filing name reservations are a one-of-a-kind requirement and Colorado is one of the only states that mandates them which will unfortunately add an extra step to the usual process you can make a name reservation for 25 by online application only through this link and this reserved name lasts up to 120 days from the acceptance date of the application Step 2 get a registered agent Colorado requires LLCs to have a registered agent an agent has a physical address as PO Box is not allowed and is available during normal business hours this agent will serve as the llc's primary point of contact for receiving key legal papers tax law warnings summons subpoenas and so on you or someone in your company can become this registered agent however I highly recommend you utilize a professional registered agent as they have much more knowledge of protecting your company in cases of possible issues like problems concerning Court schedules or filing reports with the Secretary of State Etc besides hiring a professional registered agent is very affordable these days in fact an honest and reliable company I recommend ingfile offers a free registered agent as part of their package when you form your LLC through them but I'll talk more on this later in the video step 3 filing the Colorado LLC certificate of information this next app requires you to file the certificate of information with a Colorado Secretary of State which you can only apply online the Colorado State normal filing cost for LLC is 50 but it has been reduced to one dollar from July 1 2022 to June 30 2023 and it can only be applied online step 4 preparing and operating agreement now an operating agreement is a good idea to have in place with the other member if your LLC has more than one member although a limited liability company operating agreement is not required for Colorado your operating agreement should clarify how your company or business will handle big picture issues these include the transfer of membership interest profits losses and distributions initial Investments decision-making Powers voting rights team management and lastly dissolving the business step 5 obtain an EIN next we need to get an EIN for your LLC an EIN or employer identification number is a federal tax ID issued by the IRS to your company your EIN is used by the IRS to readily identify your firm on tax filings all Colorado firms pay a business privilege tax and the state requires you to have an EIN to file you may also be required to provide your EIN when opening a bank account or applying for municipal permits or licenses obtaining an EIN is a slightly longer process compared to the previous steps I'm sure you know anything to do with the IRS is confusing and tedious first you have to have complete knowledge of your LLC such as your company information managing member information business address business information company details and even the critical information regarding vehicular assets and federal excise taxes this is another reason why getting a professional registered agent is way more convenient is they can do this for you as part of their service ending file the service I recommended above is one of the best companies out there to help you form your Colorado LLC you can click on the link in the description or type this into your browser to get access to this package Inc file is one of a kind as it offers a free silver package with services such as preparing and filing your articles of organization well you still have to pay one dollar for the state fees which you would have to do anyway if you chose the DIY option but looking at the bigger picture all other companies will still charge for their service fee on top of stake filing fees but Inc file does not collect this fee this plan already includes a free registered agent for your first year of subscription and 119 annually moving forward if you decide to continue the service after the first year however ink files gold package is the one I would recommend to everyone as it'll save you a lot of Hassle and time for an extra small fee ink file will obtain your EIN business tax number and create an operating agreement which will eliminate the overall steps 4 and 5 from above now if you are in a hurry and require expedited filings or you want to have a domain name with a business email address then their Platinum package is also worth considering otherwise I would stick with a gold package now I want to guide you on the next step to take when starting your LLC so if you have chosen the DIY option then I recommend you check out this video which will help you pick the best bank accounts for your business to avoid coming funds and piercing the corporate veil but if you have chosen option 2 of using a professional information service but want more information on ink file then check out this video where I have done an in-depth tutorial and review on them so check it out and I'll see you over in that next video
Thanks Brady your participation is very much appreciated
- Kenneth Blasing
About the author
I've studied data modeling at Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City and I am an expert in immunochemistry. I usually feel aggravated. My previous job was paste-up worker (graphic arts) I held this position for 15 years, I love talking about practical jokes and art collecting. Huge fan of Saweetie I practice waterskiing and collect books and periodicals.
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