How to form an LLC in Indiana

In addition to its many other advantages, a limited liability corporation (LLC) provides small enterprises with protection from legal responsibility and favorable tax treatment. 

Follow these easy steps to get your limited liability company (LLC) operating in the state of Indiana after you’ve decided that an LLC is the most suitable form of business for your requirements.

Note that you have the option of forming the limited liability company (LLC) yourself, or you may employ a reputable company formation agency to do all of the legwork on your behalf.

1. Naming Your Indiana LLC

Choosing a name for your limited liability corporation is the first and most significant step in setting it up. Be careful to choose a name that satisfies the standards for naming businesses in the state of Indiana and that is readily searchable by prospective customers.

Be sure to abide by the naming guidelines:

• You are required to have the word “limited liability corporation” or one of its acronyms included in the name of your business (LLC or L.L.C.)
• You are not allowed to use any terms in your company’s name that might lead to confusion with a public entity (FBI, Treasury, State Department, etc.)
• Words that are considered restricted, such as “bank,” “attorney,” and “university,” may need extra documentation and the incorporation of a licensed professional as a member of your limited liability company (LLC).

How to register your company name in Indiana?

You may check to see whether the name you want is available by performing a name search on the official website of the State of Indiana.

By submitting a Reservation of Business Name form to the Secretary of State, you may put a hold on a name for a period of up to one hundred and twenty days. The reservation request has to be submitted using the online system. The filing cost is twenty dollars.

2. Choose your Indiana Registered Agent

A registered agent in Indiana is required of every limited liability company (LLC) operating in the state. If the limited liability company (LLC) is taken to court, this refers to a person or company that has agreed to accept service of process on its behalf.

The Registered Agent might either be a person who resides in Indiana or a company that is permitted to conduct operations in the state. It is required that the Registered Agent have a real, physical address in the state of Indiana.

What exactly is the role of a Registered Agent?

A Registered Agent receives tax forms, legal paperwork, lawsuit notices, and government communication on your business’s behalf. Consider the role of your registered agent as that of the point of contact for your company with the state.

Who is eligible to serve as a Registered Agent?

A Registered Agent in the state of Indiana must either be an individual who resides in Indiana on a permanent basis or a company that is permitted to carry out business in the state of Indiana, such as a Registered Agent service. You have the option of selecting anybody who works for the organization, including yourself.

3. Publish your company’s articles of incorporation.

Your limited liability company (LLC) will be formally recognized after you have a document called the Articles of Organization that lays forth fundamental information about your business. Because this form serves as the legal registration for your company with the state, it is essential that all of the details be accurate.

What should be included in a company’s Articles of Organization?

When completing the Articles of Organization for your Indiana LLC, you are required to give the following information:

• LLC’s name
• If the term of the LLC is permanent or restricted.
• Address of the main office of the limited liability company The name and location of the registered agent for the limited liability company
• Location where the Secretary of State should send notifications to the limited liability company (LLC) through mail.
• How the Limited Liability Company (LLC) will be run: by its members or by its managers
• Whether or whether the limited liability company will provide professional services
• Name and address of each person who organized the limited liability company, as well as the name and address of at least one member or management who has direct knowledge of the activities of the limited liability company.

Submission of Your Organization’s Articles of Incorporation

Articles of Organization must be submitted to the Business Services Division of the Indiana Secretary of State in order to establish a limited liability company (LLC) in the state of Indiana. The following items must be included in the articles:

• LLC’s name
• LLC’s address
• The company’s registered agent’s full name and address
• The lifetime of the limited liability company, whether it will be permanent or for a certain amount of time.
• Who will run the limited liability company: the managers or the members?
• Official stamp of the company’s founder

You may submit the articles either online or via the mail. The application cost is $100.

4. Acquire a Certificate of Completion From the State

After the formation paperwork of the limited liability company (LLC) has been submitted and authorized, the state will send you a certificate that proves the LLC officially exists if you request a copy and pay enough postage.

With this certificate, the limited liability company will be able to get an Employer Identification Number (EIN), as well as business permits and business bank accounts such as Bluevine or Novo.

5. Establish an Operating Agreement

Although establishing a detailed LLC operating agreement is not a legally required step for incorporating an LLC in Indiana, it is highly suggested for all new limited liability companies to do so nonetheless.

The following items have to be included in the operating agreement:

• Specify the organizational setup of the limited liability company.
• Determine the roles that each member of the limited liability company will play, as well as their specific duties and obligations.

An LLC may be subject to serious legal and operational challenges if it does not have an operating agreement that defines the precise responsibilities of its members.

6. Obtain a tax Employer Identification Number (EIN)

A number of limited liability companies (LLCs) will be required to get a Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN), often known as a tax ID number. 

Your company must have a valid EIN in order to pay federal employer taxes, open a bank account (in most situations), or recruit workers. An EIN also identifies your company to the IRS.

On the website of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which is accessible without charge, you are able to do research to determine whether or not you need an EIN and submit an application for one. 

The vast majority of companies are required to obtain an EIN, although a significant exception is provided for single-member limited liability companies, which are permitted to use the owner’s Social Security number instead.

Business Licensing and permits

Depending on the kind of the business they conduct and the area in which they do it, limited liability companies (LLCs) that are active in the state of Indiana may be needed to acquire one or more licenses or permits for doing business issued by the state or by local governments.

Even while Indiana does not mandate that all businesses get a general business license, it is very probable that your limited liability company will still be required to obtain certain licenses and permits in order to do business lawfully. 

INBiz provides a list of state permissions and business licenses that your LLC may be required to get in order to stay in compliance with Indiana law.

On the other hand, licensing may also occur at the federal and municipal levels, and various types of businesses need a variety of different licenses and permissions. 

You are going to have to do some research since there isn’t a single location where you can check to see whether you have every license and permission that you need.

Talk to a city or county clerk in the municipality or county where your limited liability company (LLC) is based to find out more about the local licensing procedures that apply to your business.

7. Filing of your company’s biennial reports

The Indiana Secretary of State’s Business Services Division requires every Indiana limited liability company (and any international LLCs conducting business in Indiana) to submit a Business Entity Report every two years. 

The Business Entity Report includes fundamental pieces of data such as the name of your limited liability company (LLC), the date it was first filed, and information on its registered agent.

You will be obligated to send in a report once every two years in the month that marks the anniversary of the founding of your limited liability company. 

For instance, if you established your limited liability company on August 13, 2020, you would be required to submit your biannual report during the month of August of each even-numbered year afterwards (2022, 2024 and so forth).

In a similar vein, if you filed a foreign LLC with the Secretary of State Business Services Division in the year 2020, the due date for your biannual report would be in 2022, and then every two years after that. There are distinct costs associated with filing either online or in the mail.

Costs and Next Steps?

Costs

In the state of Indiana, a limited liability company (LLC) may be established by submitting articles of organization to the Corporations Division of the Indiana Secretary of State. 

There are two options for submitting the articles: online or via the mail. There is a filing cost of one hundred dollars, which may be paid with a credit card.

A reservation of a business name may be made with the Secretary of State for a fee of twenty dollars. Consider the following additional expenditures associated with forming an LLC:

• Doing business under (or “DBA”) name
• Certified document copies
• Certificate of Existence

Next Steps in the process

When you register a limited liability company (LLC), you establish a legal basis upon which you can operate your firm. It is important for companies to have a strategy in place to ensure that their limited liability company remains compliant and in an active position on the state’s website.

A registered limited liability company also gives you the ability to perform the following:

• You will need to get the permissions and licenses required to run your company, such as those issued by the health department, the zoning department, the department of home occupations, the professional licensing board, and others. Some states need a seller’s permission to conduct sales
• You need to have your company registered with the state’s tax bureau.
• Create a commercial checking account.
• Put in an application for a credit card that is designated for business use.
• Invest in company protection by purchasing insurance.
• Create a trademark to protect your business’s name and brand.

LLC setup myself or via a services firm?

When forming a limited liability company (LLC), it is not required by law to use the services of an attorney. In most states, forming a limited liability company (LLC) is possible by registering the business entity on the website of your state’s secretary of state and with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

If you are inexperienced with the procedure of forming an LLC, hiring an experienced LLC service may be the best choice for you to assure a smooth and rapid establishment of your new business. 

When starting a new company, owners of businesses may save time and money by using a professional formations firm that specializes in the creation of companies. 

They are able to take care of the things that you perhaps do not have time to think about for a price ranging from fifty dollars to more than five hundred dollars, and these things include:

• Creating an LLC operating agreement to describe who, what, when, where, why, and how (required in some states).
• The process of creating articles of organization that identify the registered agent, the management of the LLC, and the date the company was formed.
• Serving in the capacity of registered agent for your business.
• Keeping meticulous documents in the event that a dispute goes to court or an audit is conducted.
• costs associated with filing and registering with the appropriate parties.
• The process of registering the name of your firm and determining whether or not the LLC name is accessible.
• Completing the necessary legal and formation paperwork, then submitting them.

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