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Start to finish
How to start an LLC in New York
New York is not a hard state to file in. It is an expensive one to finish in, because of a newspaper rule no other state still enforces at this scale. Plan for both halves before you start.
The sequence
The seven steps
Steps one through four are quick. Step five is the one that costs money.
- Pick a name that is available and ends in LLC, L.L.C., or Limited Liability Company. Check it against the Department of State entity search before you print anything.
- Choose your county of office. This goes on the Articles of Organization and it decides your publication bill. Read publication cost by county before you write a county in this box.
- Decide whether to name a registered agent. Optional in New York, and covered below.
- File the Articles of Organization with the Department of State. Two hundred dollars, online through NYS Business Express or by mail.
- Publish. Two newspapers picked by the county clerk, once a week for six weeks, within 120 days of formation.
- File the Certificate of Publication with both affidavits and a $50 fee.
- Get an EIN from the IRS, write an operating agreement, and open the bank account.
New York law requires a written operating agreement within 90 days of formation. Nobody checks. Write one anyway, because a bank or a court will ask for it eventually.
Two hundred dollars to file, $50 for the Certificate of Publication, and newspaper charges of roughly $300 to $2,650 depending on the county you put on the Articles.
| Item | Cost | When |
|---|---|---|
| Articles of Organization | $200 | At formation |
| Expedited handling (optional) | $25 to $150 | At formation |
| Newspaper publication | $300 to $2,650 | Within 120 days |
| Certificate of Publication | $50 | After the six weeks |
| Registered agent (optional) | $0 to $249 a year | Ongoing |
| Biennial Statement | $9 | Every two years |
The spread on that publication line is the whole game. Same state, same form, and a difference of two thousand dollars depending on one box.
The box that costs the most
Your county of office
The county on your Articles of Organization sets which newspapers you publish in, and those papers set their own rates. Manhattan estimates run past $1,500. Rural counties are quoted nearer $350.
This is not your registered agent's county. It is not your mailing address either. It is the county where your LLC's office is located, as designated in the Articles.
Put down where your business actually sits. If your office genuinely is in Manhattan, Manhattan is the honest answer and Manhattan rates apply. What matters is that you make the choice knowingly rather than discovering the invoice in month four.
Our office is on Lexington Avenue in New York County, so appointing us does not shift your publication county and does not cut that bill. Any provider claiming their address does is describing a decision that is yours, not theirs.
Details on the publication requirement.
Step three, expanded
Do you need a registered agent?
No. The Secretary of State is your agent automatically under Section 301. Naming a private agent is optional and mainly buys privacy plus faster handling of anything served.
The practical issue is the address. Your Articles of Organization carry an address for the state to forward service of process to, and that record is public. For a lot of people that address is their apartment.
Naming an agent puts a commercial address there instead. That is most of what you are paying for. The rest is somebody opening the envelope the day it lands.
The full argument, including the case for skipping it, is on whether a registered agent is required. What we charge is on the service page.
After formation
What comes due later
Two deadlines follow you. The publication window closes 120 days after formation, and the Biennial Statement comes due every second year in your formation anniversary month for $9.
Beyond that it depends on what you do. A corporation instead of an LLC skips publication entirely, which is worth knowing before you file. See how to incorporate in New York.
Already have an LLC in another state and want to operate here? That is a different filing. See foreign LLC registration in New York.
Miss the 120 day publication window and the Department of State can suspend your LLC's authority to do business in the state. The fix is to publish late and file anyway, which works, but the newspapers do not discount for lateness.
About to file? Put us on the paperwork
We go on your Articles of Organization as the registered agent for $49 a year.