how to make an llc in florida [Definitive Guide]

Last updated : Aug 30, 2022

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how to form an LLC in Florida Florida is an excellent place to form a new LLC the Sunshine State has the lowest income taxes in the country and is number one in economic growth prospects every state has slightly different requirements performing an LLC follow along closely to learn the required steps for creating your own limited liability company in the state of Florida there are two ways to form an LLC in Florida you can form one yourself or you can hire a service to do it for you let's start by looking at the five basic requirements to form an LLC in Florida on your own you can also find these steps in more detail on our website linked in the description below 1 name your LLC every state has its own rules about what kind of names are allowed for LLC's in general you will need to observe these naming guidelines your name must include the phrase limited liability company or one of its abbreviations LLC or LLC with a period following H letter restricted words such as Bank Attorney law office etc may require additional paperwork and may also need a licensed professional to be part of the LLC your name cannot include words that could confuse your LLC with a government agency such as FBI Treasury State Department etc you cannot use a name that has already been registered to see if your name is available in your state you'll need to do a name search this free service is available on your state's Secretary of State website check out our free guide for finding the direct link to your state we also recommend that you check to see if your business name is available as a web domain even if you don't plan to make a business website today you may want to buy the URL in order to prevent others from acquiring it to choose a registered agent Florida requires that you nominate a registered agent for your LLC who is the business's point of contact with the state the registered agent can be an individual within the company including yourself or you can hire a professional service authorized to do business in Florida they will send and receive legal papers on your behalf these documents include official correspondence like legal summons and document filings which your registered agent will receive and forward to you your registered agent will help remind you to file the nest Cerie reports failure to properly maintain your LLC can result in fines and dissolution so this assistance is valuable 3 file the articles of organization to register your LLC you will need to file the articles of organization with the state of Florida this can be done online at the my Florida Sun biz website or by mail when filing you will need to consider the management structure of your LLC we recommend learning more about member managed versus manager managed LLC's before you file in Section 4 of the articles of organization you will be asked about your LLC's management structure this section can be left blank however if you plan to open a business banking account the bank may require you to list the name of at least one authorized representative this can be a manager or member in your articles of organization since it's important to open a separate bank account for your LLC most people add the name of the person who will open the account you do not need to list every member for create an operating agreement although not every state requires it you should always create an operating agreement to establish ownership terms and member roles for your LLC this foundational document is the core of your LLC and will help you maintain your organization as well as further establish your LLC is a separate legal entity there are six main sections of an operating agreement organization outlines when and where the company was created who the members are and how the ownership is structured management and voting addresses how the company is managed as well as how the members vote capital contributions covers which members financially support the LLC and how more funds will be raised in the future distributions outlines how the company's profits and losses are shared among members membership changes describes the process for adding or removing members as well as if and when members can transfer their ownership shares and dissolution which explains the circumstances in which the LLC may be dissolved an operating agreement is an internal document it does not need to be filed with the state however it should be updated every time there is a change in membership or management at the company you can download a free sample operating agreement or create a custom one using our free operating agreement tool at how to start an LLC com 5 obtain an ein lastly you'll need to get an employer identification number or ein from the IRS also known as a federal tax identification number your EIN is like a social security number for your LLC and is how the IRS tracks your business for tax purposes an ein is also necessary to open a business banking account and legally hire employees Aeons are free of charge and can be obtained from the IRS online or through the mail and with that you'll have formed a Florida LLC on your own option to hire a professional service the second way to create a Florida LLC is the hire professional service to create your LLC for you hiring a professional service to file your forms and act as your registered agent for the LLC will cost you an additional fifty to one hundred and fifty dollars however there are several benefits to working with a pro a hired registered agent helps with getting your reports filed on time helps you stay organized by keeping your business mail separate and is available at all regular business hours to accept official mail and legal papers on your LLC's behalf a final and important additional benefit of using a service is privacy the professional service will provide a level of privacy by withholding your personal name and home address from the LLC's contact information there are many reasons you might not want your personal information easily accessible and associated with your business hiring a professional LLC for mation service is an easy way to accomplish this now that you have seen the different requirements and ways you can form an LLC in Florida visit our site and take some time to research your options and establish a solid foundation for your business activities click on the links in the description below to research the top five professional formation services or get more information on how to form a Florida LLC on your own now you know all the steps to form an LLC in your state for a more detailed guide go to how to start an LLC com you can also create an operating agreement and use our business plan tool free of charge give the video a like if you found it useful and subscribe if you'd like to see more and if you have questions or encounter any roadblocks leave a comment below good luck and starting your small business you

Thanks for your comment Liliana Mcgowen, have a nice day.
- Cruz Widgeon, Staff Member

hey everyone so in today's video we are going to be talking about florida llc's and everything you need to know about them also show you exactly how to set up your llc in florida in the cheapest and fastest way so there are six steps when it comes to forming an llc in florida and i'm gonna go over them briefly right now and in more detail later on first you're going to want to pick a name for your lc 2 you're going to hire a registered agent which is required in florida 3 you're going to follow your florida llc articles of organization 4 you're going to create an llc operating agreement five you're gonna obtain a florida ein for your llc this is basically just gonna be like a social security number for your business and then six you're gonna get an annual resale certificate for sales tax if you are selling things you do wanna bicep a lot of these steps you can actually use something like ink file this is exactly how i set up multiple of my own businesses so yeah we'll go through these steps in detail right now but if you want to use a platform to just do this all for you just skip to the end of this video i'll do a screen share of how you can set up the florida llc in like five minutes so florida does have some state naming guidelines for llc's and the first is that your name must include limited liability company llc or l.l.c dot the name should not cause any confusion with a government agency so you can't use words like fbi treasury or state department and then you also want to make sure that your name is available in florida so you'll want to conduct a state name search and then also something you should consider is is that url domain name available yeah what i would do is i would check online on something like namecheap.com to see if that name is available number two is you're going to hire a registered agent which is required in florida a registered agent is a person or a business that is responsible for sending and receiving important legal documents on your behalf such as tax forms lawsuits government correspondence and more and a rule is that this person or business must be a full-time resident in florida and it can be yourself it could be an employee or it can be a registered agent service i will say that whatever name and address you guys are using that is going to be public information so if you want to be as private as possible you should use a registered agent service think of your registered agent sort of as like your mailing address three is you're going to file your florida llc articles of organization this is going to be form llc one and you're going to follow this with the florida division of corporations you guys can either do this online or you can do it through mail and then you also want to decide if your lc is going to be member managed or manager managed and for 99 of you guys it's going to be member managed because it's going to be managed by you who is a member next is you're going to create an llc operating agreement now this is not required in florida but i do recommend having one an operating agreement is a legal document that outlines the ownership and operating procedures of your llc it basically is going to be to ensure that both owners and employees know what to expect from the company and vice versa this agreement is going to include information about your organization so who the members are when and where your business was created as well as the ownership structure it's also going to have your management and voting structure they'll have capital contributions so which members are actually putting money into this business they'll have info about distributions about membership changes as well as dissolution which is when the llc may be dissolved next is you're going to obtain an ein number in florida for your llc so this is also known as your federal tax identification number and you can think of it sort of as like a social security number for your business you yourself have a social security number well your florida llc is also going to have one as well and that is called the ein it basically allows the irs to identify and keep track of a business's tax status this is required by the state to open up a business bank account and also to hire employees and in florida you can actually file for your ein for free and this is done after you form your company to get your ein you can do this online or you can do it by mail and on six is you may need to obtain additional licensing in florida the most common business license in florida is going to be the florida annual resale certificate or seller's permit this is required if you engage in business in florida and intend on actually selling taxable goods or services you guys can do this yourself or of course you can use a service like ink file to do this for you and then after you form your florida llc you're gonna want to open up a business bank account because this is going to actually separate your personal assets from your business assets you may also want to get a business credit card if you do want to receive or get rewards for spending money in your business and of course hire an accountant so this is gonna help you save money on taxes they're gonna be able to make sure everything is done correctly you'll avoid any penalties or fines if you do something that's incorrect and yeah a smart business move for almost every business owner so i know it does seem pretty complicated to set up an llc and it is right but there are actually services out there that can do this for you and they can do it for you for little to no money so personally i've used ink file to create multiple of my own businesses and every single time i've used them they have been amazing 100 worth the money they'll literally save you hours and hours of your own time and you can take that time and use it to actually you know build your own business so in a little bit i'll show you guys how to set up your llc in florida using ink file and the plan i recommend which we'll go over more is the gold plan and with the gold plan they're just literally going to do everything for you and you guys are gonna see it is well worth the money now let's also talk about some florida tax filing requirements right so there's the florida re-employment tax and this is required if you plan on having employees it's sort of like a type of unemployment tax and you can apply for this through the florida department of revenue new employers also need to pay a 2.7 tax on the first 7 000 paid to employees and then if you guys are in any specific industries you also might require additional state taxes in terms of federal licensing this is only required if your business is regulated by the federal government so most of you guys probably aren't going to need to get a federal license it's only going to apply for businesses that relate to alcohol agriculture fishing and wildlife firearms and ammunition tv broadcasting nuclear energy and more in terms of federal tax filing requirements you must report your income to the irs every single year for multi-member llc's you'll likely use the form 1065 partnership return and then fo

Thanks mlj0910b your participation is very much appreciated
- Cruz Widgeon

About the author

Cruz Widgeon

I've studied human anatomy at Heritage University in Toppenish and I am an expert in health psychology. I usually feel pessimistic. My previous job was soil conservation technician I held this position for 27 years, I love talking about scouting and coffee. Huge fan of Lionel Messi I practice snowmobile racing and collect banknotes.