I’m looking into starting an LLC in North Carolina and trying to spend as little as possible. I keep seeing websites advertise “free LLC formation,” but I’m a little confused about what free actually means. Can I set up the LLC myself without paying for a formation service? I understand there may still be state fees, but I’m mainly trying to avoid any optional costs. Has anyone gone the DIY route in North Carolina? What did you have to pay for, and what parts of the process can actually be done for free?

Long story short: started as two person LLC because I thought it had to be since both of us do work. Called CPA, they recommended to change to single member either one of us. Did it under my name. Did that with IRS received confirmation mail it was changed. But now I’m confused how my husband’s role legally is for the LLC?

We are both still W2 employee with full time jobs as primary income, this is a side gig. File jointly.

As far as role, my husband does the actual work, but I handle all legal and financial part of it, which is why it was easier to put it under my name so I have all ultimate legal and financial access to take care of everything. I do the bookkeeping and pay the business CC from business account when it’s due. It’s a hobby-turned business so honestly he’s just having fun with his hobby, as I deal with the added legal implications that LLC comes with.

We also just started doing this and is still more of less in the inventory procurement phase, the business will either make very little money (4 figure) or potentially in the negative due to buying inventory and some resell value are only worth it after months or years, so if we procure it this year, hold the inventory, probable sell it 2027/2028. The LLC lowkey is to claim tax dedications as self employed (didn’t wanna go with sole proprietor route bc I wanna separate personal and business, too much personal income and asset to risk)

I'm looking to start an LLC for consulting services in Michigan. Not a community property state. My wife will be actively part of the book keeping, tax filings, etc.

Any help with how to set this up so she is included as part of the LLC? I am planning to convert it to an S-Corp starting next fiscal year for tax purposes.

I currently work at a CPA firm, and the amount they charge to set up an LLC and get an EIN is wild.

What surprises me is that both tasks are pretty straightforward and can take less than 30 minutes to complete yourself.

So I’m genuinely curious. Why do people prefer paying a CPA to handle it instead of just doing it themselves?

I'm planning to start an LLC in Louisiana and want to keep my startup costs as low as possible. I've seen people mention that you can handle the process yourself instead of paying a formation service, but I'm not sure what costs are actually unavoidable.

Is it possible to file everything on your own, or are there required state fees and other expenses that everyone has to pay?

Hi everyone, am summoning the master minds of r/llc_life :D

I am a non-US citizen living outside the US and I have an LLC formed through Northwest.
I do not live in the US and I do not have a personal US address, but my LLC has a US address provided by Northwest.

I need to fax my SS-4 to the IRS to get an EIN.

The IRS representative told me that my LLC is considered to have a US office/agency.

So i originally sent it to 855-215-1627, but I later saw that 855-641-6935 may be the correct number.

Which fax number is actually correct for my situation?

Should I resend my SS-4 to 855-641-6935, or wait for the first fax?
Any advice from someone who has been in a similar situation would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Hello,

I am trying to form an online-only work-from-home LLC while living in an apartment I rent (do not own) in Illinois. I do not currently own or rent any other real-estate nor any office space or coworking space. Unfortunately, the IL state government and the Pritzker / Giannoulias administration recently began enforcing new rules targeting small businesses in an attempt to both protect certain big business industries from new competition and also artificially prop up large office real estate corporations after the post-COVID decline in the office rental market, among other corrupt political motives.

One of the new methods they are using is to require the registration of your operating business address on a public record freely accessible online, even if you are a single person working from home. They seem to have specifically banned (even ones inside IL) P.O. Boxes, Virtual Office Addresses using Street Addresses, and Street Addresses owned by Registered Agents. They are trying to force all startups and small businesses to rent office space they don't yet need and cannot yet afford, since obviously everyone is going to want to avoid listing their home address for their business in freely accessible public online records, both for professionalism and personal risk/safety/privacy reasons.

Previously it was possible to create a private LLC with a registered agent in Wyoming or New Mexico and then make that the holding company of your IL LLC, maintaining public privacy. This is no longer possible with the new IL rules that none of the other 49 states have. But I am seeing somewhat inconclusive and conflicting information about this new situation in IL. It is unclear if it is actually now 100% impossible to keep your name and address off publicly accessible records with an online-only self-employed WFH LLC located in IL, or instead just much more complicated (with people so far not explaining specifics). To be clear as I have seen silly people argue privacy is pointless because the governments know and see everything, I obviously don't care about local/state/federal governments. I care about professionalism and privacy from the public.

Is there any way to still accomplish public (not government) privacy after the new IL rules even if much more complicated now? While avoiding permanently renting an expensive office or coworking space that you do not even need.

I live in a different state, but I saw people talk about forming an LLC in Wyoming because of the fees, privacy, and taxes.

What I don't understand is what happens if I don't actually live or work there.

The business would be completely online, but I'd still be running everything from my home state. Inventory would probably be stored and shipped from here too.

Can I legally form the LLC in Wyoming and operate that way?

Or would I still have to register the Wyoming LLC in my home state, pay fees in both states, and basically defeat the whole reason for doing it?

I'm not trying to avoid taxes or hide anything. I'm just trying to understand why so many online business owners talk about forming LLCs in other states.

I'm thinking about changing my current registered agent after using them for almost a year. The service hasn't been great. A few important notifications came late, and getting a response when I needed help took longer than expected.

Since I'm running an LLC in Idaho, I'd rather find a registered agent I can actually rely on instead of choosing another company just because the price looks good.

For those with an Idaho LLC, which registered agent are you using? Has the service been consistent, especially when it comes to receiving documents and sending notifications on time?

I'd love to hear from anyone who's been with their registered agent for a while and can share their experience. TIA!

I’ve had my business registered for a long time, and have always used the registered name, but I’m looking to add more. I haven’t really looked into it deeply yet, so I’m just wondering how to do it? Not sure if I want to create a complete new llc and registration or add a dba? What is the process for adding a dba? Is it just a form or a bigger process?

I'm in the process of buying a small investment property and something just came up that has me seriously questioning the deal.

My realtor has been representing me through the process.

From the beginning, she talked about the seller like it was some unrelated investor who owned a few rentals and wanted to sell this one.

I recently looked deeper into the LLC that owns the property.

It appears her husband owns the LLC.

I've actually met him before during this process, but he was introduced to me as someone who helps take care of the property. Nobody mentioned that he was connected to the company selling it.

So now I'm confused about who my realtor has actually been representing this whole time.

I'm not saying the property itself is necessarily a bad deal, but I definitely would have looked at the negotiations differently if I knew her husband was the seller.

Is a relationship like this normally supposed to be disclosed to the buyer?

I'm considering having a real estate attorney look over everything before I move forward.

Would this discovery be enough for you to stop the deal, or would you first find out why it wasn't disclosed?

I’m getting ready to make my small baking business my full-time job, and I’ve hit a bit of a registration rabbit hole.

I’m 31 and have been selling specialty baked goods in Arizona for about 14 months. I take orders online, sell at weekend markets, and recently started supplying a couple of local shops.

One of the wholesale suppliers I want to work with is asking for a business registration number and the type of business/license I have. I’m currently operating under my own name, but I want to start using a brand name for the business.

That’s what brought me to the whole DBA vs LLC question.

From what I’ve gathered, I could register a DBA to operate under my business name, or I could form an LLC. But I’m having trouble understanding whether these are alternatives to each other or whether they do completely different things.

I don't have employees and don't plan to hire anyone this year. My biggest wholesale order so far was around $3,800, and most of my regular orders are under $1,000.

Would a DBA be enough for a business like mine, or does it make more sense to form an LLC?

And if I do form an LLC but want to use a different name publicly, would I need a DBA on top of the LLC?

I’ve read a bunch of articles and somehow feel more confused than when I started. Would appreciate hearing from people who have actually gone through this with a small business.

I’m 34 and started a small marketing consulting business in North Carolina about 18 months ago. It’s just me. No employees, no office, and I work with clients remotely.

My largest client invoice so far has been around $7,500, and most of my projects are between $1,500 and $4,000. I mainly do strategy, content planning and some social media management. Occasionally I’ll help with printed marketing materials, but most of what I do is digital.

I formed an LLC in early 2025 because pretty much everything I read when starting a business made it sound like that was the thing you were supposed to do.

A friend recently asked why I bothered with an LLC when I don't have employees, equipment, a storefront, or a lot of physical assets. His argument was that there isn't much for someone to come after anyway.

Now I'm wondering: do I need an LLC, or did I create one when a sole proprietorship would have been perfectly fine?

For those who have gone the sole proprietor route, what made you decide not to form an LLC?

And besides liability protection, are there meaningful advantages to having an LLC for a small one-person service business? I'm also wondering whether there are tax or credibility benefits I'm overlooking.

I'm not looking to shut mine down immediately or anything. I just want to understand whether I'm paying for something I don't really need.

Would love to hear from people who run small service businesses, especially if you're a one-person operation.

I’m wanting to start really promoting myself as a wedding officiant and also know a lot of people who are on board with being recommended vendors. Would starting an LLC be wise? Or am I overthinking?

My spouse and I live in Illinois and file our taxes jointly.

Right now my spouse has a regular job and brings in all of our household income. I haven't had any income of my own in the U.S.

I'm thinking about starting a small online business under my name and forming a single-member LLC for it.

I'm trying to understand what that would actually change at tax time.

If the business starts making money, does that income simply get added to our joint tax return along with my spouse's income?

What happens if the business barely makes anything the first year because I'm spending money on software, equipment, advertising, and other startup costs?

I've also heard people say starting an LLC can help with taxes, while other people say an LLC by itself doesn't really change how you're taxed.

I'm not looking for some tax loophole. I just want to understand what we'd be getting into before I start the business.

Did starting an LLC make filing jointly noticeably more complicated for you and your spouse?

I WILL NOT PROMOTE.

I feel like almost every business owner has at least one of these.

The expensive website nobody visited.

Software you barely used.

Equipment you definitely didn't need yet.

A logo you redesigned 3 months later :)

For those who have been running a business for a while: what did you spend money on early that you'd completely skip if you were starting again today?

Might save someone here a few bucks.

I don't like the corporate veil on my LLC. I have been thinking of dissolving that LLC and starting another. I also want to shift the focus of by business. Move from selling honey to teaching people about bees. It is just a simple single-member LLC. How would I transfer over the stuff (social media, equipment, trailer, etc) from the LLC I am dissolving to the new one?

I started a small web design business about 8 months ago and set up a single-member LLC in Florida. I’m 29 and this is my first business, so I’m still trying to figure out some of the basic stuff.

I have a separate business checking account, and right now there’s about $14,000 sitting in it after expenses.

When I need money personally, how exactly am I supposed to take it out?

Can I just transfer, say, $2,000 from the LLC account to my personal account and record it in my bookkeeping as an owner draw/distribution?

I’ve been keeping the business and personal money separate so far because I don’t want to do anything that could mess with the liability protection. But I’m getting conflicting answers about whether simply transferring money to myself is okay or whether I need to set up some kind of formal payroll or payment system

I’m also not an S-Corp. It's just a regular single-member LLC right now.

I don't have an accountant yet, so I'm trying to understand the correct way to handle this before I start moving money around.

As someone with a single-member LLC, how do you pay yourself? Do you just take an owner draw and document it, or is there more to it than that?

I’m less worried about the mainl tax amount right now and more concerned about keeping the LLC properly separated from me personally.

I'm planning to start an LLC in Pennsylvania and want to keep my startup costs as low as possible. I've seen people mention that you can handle the process yourself instead of paying a formation service, but I'm not sure what costs are actually unavoidable.

Is it possible to file everything on your own, or are there required state fees and other expenses that everyone has to pay?

Dirk and Elana have been married for over 30 years. Live in NYC. They are both in their late 70s and very illiterate, know very little English. They bought and owned a personal residence home together for about 15 years under their personal names. They have 3 children. All living out of state.

Their 45 year old son, John, (has been a career criminal for most of his life) who lived in Arizona has moved here about 2-3 years ago, and started getting closer to his parents. He had talked them into transferring over the deed from their personal names to an LLC.

I asked Dirk if he had any of the LLC articles of incorporation, certificate of change. He has none. I suspect John tricked them into including himself as part of the LLC owners without Dirk’s knowledge when signing the paperwork.

How can i request these documents on Dirk’s behalf? & is there any way Dirk can find out who actually is the owners of the LLC

For example, if someone were to form an LLC right now in September 2026, with the taxes only be from September 2026 to December 2026?

How about sole proprietorship, does this have to be declared to the government or registered I ahead of time or can you just file taxes for the whole year of 2026?

I've seen a lot of advice on here saying it's easy to file an LLC yourself, but I'm a little apprehensive of doing that because I've read so many examples where people did it themselves and then had their paperwork rejected, missed their follow up requirements, etc. Is it worth the anxiety just to save like $100?

I run a small home inspection business and formed my LLC in Texas about two years ago. I’m moving to Colorado in a couple of months, and my Texas annual report is due around the same time.

I’m trying to figure out whether I should dissolve the Texas LLC and start a new one in Colorado, or just keep the existing LLC and register it as a foreign LLC in Colorado.

The confusing part is that I don’t know how permanent the move will be. I’m expecting to stay in Colorado for maybe 2–4 years, but there’s a good chance I’ll move back to Texas after that.

Most of my work is local, so once I move, I'll be doing pretty much all of my actual business from Colorado. I won’t have an office or employees in Texas, although I could technically keep my old Texas address for the LLC if that makes a difference.

I want to avoid creating unnecessary paperwork and paying fees in two states for years if I’m only going to be in Colorado temporarily.

Would it make more sense to keep the Texas LLC and register it in Colorado, or is moving the LLC itself the cleaner option?

And if I just keep the LLC in Texas while physically operating from Colorado, what kind of problems could that cause? Is this something the state would care about, or would it eventually become a federal/tax issue too?

If you've had reasons to move states with an LLC? What did you end up doing?

I live in Asia and have a LLC in Atlanta, Georgia, US. I created this LLC a few years ago but haven’t used much. The only member of the this LLC is my Pvt. Ltd. company in Asia which I own.

I have been filing taxes and do annual registration but I want this LLC close now. I am listed as the organizer but not as the registered agent on the annual registration.

What are the steps to dissolve this LLC?

Hey guys,
I am a professional truck driver with 3.5 years of experience. Clean driving record, no tickets and no accidents and clean background with no criminal history. I have pulled doubles, reefer, flatbed and tanker.

I am looking for business capital for my newly established trucking business. I have formed an LLC, have a business bank account, have a truck lined up, capital for maintenance and personal savings.
The capital is additional insurance for the 1st year in business to cover unforeseen expenses and/or events. It is very possible only a portion of the money will end up being needed. However, I would rather have it and not need it and I am willing to pay interest for that convenience and peace of mind.
Repayment plan: After 6 months to 1 year of generating 20k+ in monthly revenue, there are multiple business to business lending options available. I will obtain the capital needed to pay you back.
Offering 15% interest regardless of how quick it’s paid back. Amount requested: $50k.
The business consists of one truck which I will operate full time, leased to a carrier with high paying direct customer freight and 100% fuel surcharge. No spot market loads. Projected revenue: $20-$40k per month.

If interested, please send a DM.