Set up your Missouri LLC without the hassle.
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There are many reasons to form an LLC in Missouri. Here are the main ones:
Legal protection in case of bankruptcy or lawsuits
Separation of personal and business assets
Tax benefits: flexibility & pass-through taxation
Increasing credibility and trust for your business
Check if your LLC name is available in Missouri
Choose a registered agent for your LLC
Sit back and let us take care of the paperwork for you
Missouri, the “Show Me” state, is a business-friendly state that offers incentive programs for new and existing businesses. It is ranked in the top 15 tax-friendly states, and is home to over half a million small businesses that make up the vast majority of private enterprises in the state.
A limited liability company, LLC, is a type of business entity that is similar to a corporation, but is more flexible and easy to form and maintain. It may offer some of the benefits associated with a corporation, mainly the separation of personal and business assets and personal liability protection, and tax advantages.
Starting your LLC in Missouri has the potential to give you access to tax credits, incentive programs, and loans that help you save money for the purpose of reinvestment and growth as your business grows. Your LLC does have to meet the required criteria to qualify for the incentives, but in the event your business doesn’t qualify, you can still take advantage of Missouri’s easy LLC formation process.
Forming an LLC is the next step toward turning your sole proprietorship into a more formal corporate structure, forming a partnership, protecting your assets, and gaining access to capital.
The ned to take the following steps to create your Missouri LLC:
You’ll find a detailed outline to walk you through each step below.
Per the Secretary of State of Missouri, the name of your LLC has to be distinguishable from any other business entity that’s currently registered in the state. You can search the Missouri Secretary of State business entity database for your business name. If the name you want to use has been reserved or taken by another entity, you have to change the proposed name of your business to make it unique and distinguishable.
You’re also required to use one of the following words (or its abbreviation) and place it at the end of the corporation name:
There are some restrictions on registering your business name. You can’t register a name with:
The state of Missouri requires you to name a registered agent that can receive documents delivered during business hours. A registered agent handles paperwork that comes from the government and tax offices and legal correspondence from lawyers or the courts. The registered agent has to be available during business hours from Monday through Friday so that any important papers from a court can be delivered to your business in a timely manner. You have a few options for nominating a registered agent in Missouri.
You can opt to act as your own registered agent for your LLC. To qualify to serve as a registered agent, you have to be an individual who lives full-time in the state of Missouri and has a business address that’s identical to your LLC’s registered office. Another option is to utilize a corporation authorized to transact business in the state and has a business office that’s identical to its registered office. At Tailor Brands, we offer a registered agent service capable of accepting paperwork on behalf of your business, freeing you from the need to be available at all times during business hours, and listing your personal information in the public record. Contact us to learn more about how our registered agent service works.
After you chose your registered agent, you’re ready to officially register your LLC in the Missouri Secretary of State office, once the filing is approved, your new LLC is created. Yes! This is an exciting step.
Here is an overview of filing your articles of organization to form your LLC in Missouri.
The effective date of the articles of organization is the date that the document is filed by the Secretary of State Missouri unless you want it to become active on a future date.
A single-member LLC will usually be member managed by default. To learn more about LLC management structures read this handy guide about the different types of LLCs.
You can file your articles of organization by mail or online.
In order to file your articles of organization online, you are required to create an account with the Missouri Secretary of State’s Online Business Filing System. Once you have created your account and can log into the system, you can file your articles of organization and pay the filing fee.
To file by mail, you need to enclose the papers in an envelope with the filing fee and mail them to:
Corporations Division
P.O. Box 778
Jefferson City, MO 65102
The state of Missouri charges a total fee of $51.25 filing fee for filing online, which includes $50 state filing fee for the articles of organization and $1.25 processing fee.
The paper filing fee for filing articles of organization by mail will be $105. The lower cost of filing online is to encourage you to take this route when filing for your LLC instead of going through the mail and generating more work for everyone involved.
An operating agreement is a document that outlines the rules for the operation of the business and assigns duties to the members of the LLC. It also outlines who has the rights, duties, and powers of the members, managers, and employees of the organization. The operating agreement is also used to make the statement of the type of management for the company. An LLC can be member-managed or manager-managed in Missouri. In summary, the operating agreement assigns responsibility to all who are involved in its operation after the articles of organization are accepted by the Missouri Secretary of State’s office.
Some of the topics that need to go into an operating agreement include the following:
Each of these topics addresses ownership, members, how the organization is managed, who has a certain amount of voting power, who has put money into the operation, who gets paid from the profits, changes to membership, and how to handle dissolving the business.
Yes, an operating agreement is required by the state of Missouri even though you don’t file it with your articles of organization. Creating an operating agreement outlines responsibilities and the operation of the business and provides a defense or offense if a member decides to sue the LLC for whatever reason. The operating agreement also provides stronger protection against an attempt to pierce the corporate veil in a lawsuit.
The major risk of not having an operating agreement comes in the form of a lawsuit. Missouri courts are unlikely to back you up in the event of a lawsuit over the operation of the business if you don’t have one. A judge uses the operating agreement as a guideline to determine if one or more parties are not acting in good faith and aren’t performing their duties as outlined.
Missouri requires an operating agreement to contain the following items:
You’re going to need an EIN, or Employer Identification Number, from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to report certain types of taxes to the IRS. The IRS requires all businesses to have an EIN for the purposes of filing taxes associated with operating a business in the U.S. It’s free and adds legitimacy to your business that you might not otherwise have.
Some of the benefits of getting an EIN include:
There’s no charge to get an EIN from the IRS, and you can download the form to apply for one from the website of the IRS.
Your EIN is used to take care of business taxes and issue tax documents to the members of the LLC. You’ll find yourself using it for purposes that include:
The EIN is something you can file for on your own, or you can take advantage of our EIN filing service to do it for you. Filing is straightforward, but you do need to make sure that you fill out the form correctly to avoid the need to correct a mistake later. If you’re unsure how to fill out the form and file it, Tailor Brands is happy to help you out.
This step-by-step guide details the steps you need to name your Missouri LLC properly by searching if it is unique.
There are different costs to form an LLC in Missouri and maintain it. We’ve listed all of them in this post.
Appointing registered agent is a mandatory step in your LLC formation process in Missouri – learn more about it.
This post details which licenses and permits your Missouri LLC may require and how to obtain them.
We love helping people start their business. We take care of the LLC filing and offer additional services so you can focus on launching and growing your business, while remaining compliant with state regulations.
Here’s why people choose to form their LLC with us:
Our products are user friendly, all you need to do is answer a few questions about your business and let us take care of all the rest.
Our platform is easy to use and is optimally designed to guide you through your LLC formation process and business journey.
We offer more products to help you set and manage your business like registered agent, business licenses, and annual report.
For more reviews from our customers, visit our reviews page.
In order to start an LLC in Missouri you would need to choose a registered agent, file articles of organization, and get an EIN, among other things. All the steps required to get a Missouri LLC are detailed in this guide.
Yes. Missouri statute requires all limited liability companies to have an operating agreement.
According to the MO DOR website, Limited Liability Company (LLC) taxed as a partnership income is passed directly through to the members according to the amount of stock held. Generally no income tax is paid by the LLC. You can also elect to tax your LLC as an S-Corp, by filing the appropriate forms.
To dissolve a single-member LLC in Missouri, you would need to file a form called ”Articles of Termination” to the Missouri Secretary of State. Dissolving a multi member LLC is a similar process, but it requires getting the consent of termination from all members of the LLC. You can also file an “Notice of Winding Up” before completely terminating the LLC to allow you time to take care of any withstanding business obligations. Both forms filling will require a filing fee of $25.
Form a Missouri LLC, Hassle-Free
This portion of our website is for informational purposes only. Tailor Brands is not a law firm, and none of the information on this website constitutes or is intended to convey legal advice. All statements, opinions, recommendations, and conclusions are solely the expression of the author and provided on an as-is basis. Accordingly, Tailor Brands is not responsible for the information and/or its accuracy or completeness.
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