We’ve included important information about upcoming changes regarding new compliance actions all businesses must take.
Choose a name. Choosing the name of a new venture is very exciting. The name is often times the first thing customers will see about your business. When you decide on the name you like, make sure it is available! Delaware has a service on their website which allows users to search for name availability. If a name is available, they will offer a service to reserve the name for 120 days and costs $75. You do not have to reserve the name in order to start a LLC, but many people decide to do so while they get the full LLC formation document completed.
Decide on a registered agent. These are organizations or individuals that are able to fill a requirement of the state of Delaware. The requirement is that an entity needs to have an agent be able to accept service of process among a few other responsibilities. We have an article already written to help you decide on a registered agent. By having a registered agent other than yourself, your own identity and address isn’t publicly available.
Prepare the document. The State of Delaware has prepared and listed many filing templates right on their website. The formation document for an LLC is incredibly simple. The document requires the company name that you intend to form and the name and street address of the registered agent in Delaware. Finally, the document needs to be signed by an authorized party, if not by the founder.
Any additional information about the business does not have to be listed, it’s really up to you! Sometimes founding groups like to list the members that form the LLC that way it’s on record with the state. This level of documentation can be helpful when disputes among the founders in the future are possible.
File the document. It costs $110. Depending on the time of year, you could get your documents mailed back to you in a week or in several weeks (delays can be seen in January, March, June, December).
Since Delaware's Division of Corporations can have a significant backlog of filings. We highly recommend paying $50 - $100 to expedite the filing. With the expedited approval request, you should have the approved filings back in a few days.
Hire someone to file for you! If you either want the approved documents in a matter of days or do not want to deal with the paperwork, hire someone to help you! Commercial registered agents offer formation services to the public, and charge fees for the service. Most fees are around $100 — so your formation cost can double (or more).
File an Initial Report with FinCEN. This is a new requirement that will be required as of Jan 1, 2024. Your new company must submit an Initial Report of Beneficial Ownership Information to FinCEN. The information that is required to report includes the names, addresses, and ID Documents of owners of the business as well as anyone with significant control of the business including officers. Your company is required to keep this information up to date over time — file changes within 30 days of the changes occurring. There’s a lot more to this requirement, so we have an entire article dedicated to BOI Reporting.