The Easiest Way to Form Your Kansas LLC

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Benefits of opening an LLC in Kansas

There are many reasons to form an LLC in Kansas. 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

How to form your Kansas LLC with Tailor Brands

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Choose a registered agent for your LLC

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How to start an LLC in Kansas in 5 steps

There are many different ways that an entrepreneur can structure their business. One of these is regitering a Limited Liability Company (LLC). There are a number of advantages of forming an LLC in Kansas, regardless of what niche your business is in. For example, not only does an LLC help shield business owners from personal liability, it also offers tax benefits and doesn’t require a lot of bookkeeping. Below are 6 steps to forming a Kansas LLC. 

Here are the steps you’ll need to take in order to get your LLC in Kansas.

  1. Name your Kansas LLC
  2. Choose your registered agent
  3. File articles of organization
  4. Create an operating agreement 
  5. Apply for an EIN

Below, you’ll find a detailed explanation to walk you through each step.

Step 1: Name your Kansas LLC

The first thing you need to do is choose a name for your business. Your Kansas LLC needs to have a creative, unique name that is distinguishable from other similar companies in your area. If the name you choose for your business is too similar to that of a competitor, you could be sued for infringing on their copyright. If your name isn’t recognizable, it will be more difficult to market your brand to the ideal audience. 

It’s typically a lot of effort to change your business name after the fact, particularly if you’ve filed legal forms or created banking accounts with the name of your business on them. Instead, make sure the name you choose is what you’ll stick with throughout the life of your business. It should adequately describe the services or products you offer and what you’re doing differently for customers than your competitors.  

Step 2: Choose a registered agent

Like the rest of the United States, Kansas legally requires that businesses have a registered agent in order to operate within its borders. Regardless of which U.S. state you live and/or conduct business in, you must name a registered agent for your company. Sometimes, a registered agent may be referred to as a “statutory” agent. 

In Kansas, a registered agent is someone who you put in your articles of organization who has agreed to receive business communications on your behalf.

It’s a requirement in Kansas that you have a registered agent, as well as any other state in the U.S. It’s against the law not to have a registered agent and you may be subject to fines in the event someone attempts to formally serve your business and no physical address for an agent is on file.

Criteria for a Kansas registered agent

To be eligible to be a registered agent for a business, the person must have a physical mailing address. It cannot be a post office box or a mail delivery address, and this is where letters, forms, and other paperwork from governing authorities to the business will be sent. You don’t need any special education or certificates to become a registered agent for someone’s company, but it may be a good idea to hire a professional based on the individual needs of your business and its overall goals. 

Some businesses choose a professional registered agent over a friend or family member in order to avoid the consequences of any naive oversights or mistakes that someone in the position of a registered agent might make. A professional registered agent in Kansas can help ensure that a company receives important communication in a timely fashion and can provide assistance with navigating important business matters.

The responsibilities of a registered agent

Once you assign a registered agent, they will act on your company’s behalf throughout the life of the business. This is different from an incorporator or a business organizer whose responsibilities are generally relieved after the business has been formed. One critical task that a registered agent is responsible for is receiving copies of legal notices, claims, or disputes for the business, as well as federal and state correspondence and tax documents. 

If you haven’t named a registered agent, the Kansas Secretary of State can obtain service of process on the company’s behalf. That said, this can create significant, preventable delays in the receipt of your company’s important correspondence. If your registered agent is occupied with other tasks or your correspondence goes to the state, this could negatively impact your business.

Do you need registered agent services?

A business owner may act as their own registered agent of their organization. This can be done just by completing the appropriate form with the Kansas Secretary of State with the business owner’s name and physical address instead of the contact information of another person. But acting as a registered agent can become difficult for new business owners experiencing growth to keep up with. Additionally, owners may need to file their home address with the state if there is no other physical address that is not the business location to send correspondence to. 

When you hire a professional registered agent in Kansas, their business location will be the address used on the filing form. Since this information is publicized along with your business name so anyone serving your company can contact you, it may benefit you more to have a registered agent other than yourself. This prevents your home address from being a matter of public record. It’s also a good idea to consider a professional registered agent if you would rather work a nontraditional schedule. This way, someone representing your business can be contacted any time during business hours.

Step 3: File articles of organization

Step two in starting a Kansas LLC is to file articles of organization for your business. In some cases, these may be referred to as articles of incorporation. Similar to a business plan, articles of organization are specific to how your company will be structured and operated. They tend to be highly detailed in nature and are necessary for your company to legally conduct business in Kansas. It’s crucial that you make the effort and time to create high-quality articles and to file them appropriately. 

State fees

In Kansas, the fee for filing articles of organization is $160.00. This is made payable to the Secretary of State. Check with governing bodies in your chosen industry to determine if there are any other state fees associated with starting your Kansas LLC. 

Requirements

Usually, the following items are necessary to file your company’s articles of organization in Kansas:

How to file Kansas articles of incorporation

You can file your company’s articles of organization online at the Kansas Secretary of State website or by filling out and submitting a paper form. In most situations, businesses will do this at the same time they  file other important paperwork for their companies, like registering their business name and filing forms for a trademark. Once your articles of organization are approved by the state, they act as a sort of “constitution” for your business. You can then adapt or fine-tune these to your company’s individual needs and use them to create your policies, employee handbook, etc. 

Step 4: Create an Operating Agreement

The next thing you should do is create an operating agreement for your Kansas LLC. This is also a crucial document that is utilized across all points of a business, so it’s important to ensure that it’s carefully considered, written, and filed. Operating agreements can provide moderate protection from personal liability for LLC members. An operating agreement outlines who your LLC members are and what responsibilities they have. Without one, it’s possible that your business may run more like a sole proprietorship or joint venture. This means LLC members may be at risk of personal accountability for the company’s insolvency should it occur. 

Verbal agreements aren’t enough to offer LLC members adequate protection. You should ensure that all company agreements are in writing to avoid misunderstandings or communication failures. You can always refer to the operating agreement if necessary to clarify issues should a conflict or dispute between members come about. 

Without an adequately drafted operating agreement, how your company runs and what policies, regulations, and guidelines apply to your company is determined by the state of Kansas. These default guidelines are quite wide in scope, meaning that your business is unlikely to have much, if any, legal protection in the event of insolvency. Instead of allowing potentially careless state employees making decisions about the operation of your company, you should protect your interests as the owner of your business by having a solid operating agreement with which you can conduct successful business.

Consider including the following points in your company’s operating agreement:

Step 5: Apply for an EIN

If your company has employees or will have employees in the future, you should file for an Employer ID Number, or EIN. You cannot opt out of having an EIN unless you are operating a sole proprietorship and you are the only one working. 

What Is an EIN?

An EIN is much like a social security number, but for a business. It is a unique Employer Identification Number that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses to identify a company. An EIN is generally used for the purposes of filing business taxes in Kansas and is a nine-digit number broken into two parts like so: XX-XXXXXXX.

Why do you need an EIN?

It’s a requirement for all companies in the U.S. to have an EIN to do business, with the exception of sole proprietorships. An entrepreneur running a sole proprietorship can use their personal Social Security number to file taxes. You will not be able to file your taxes properly without an EIN if you have employees, withhold taxes from non-wage sources, or meet other specific criteria. 

Having an Employeer Identification Number is beneficial to a company in a variety of ways. It helps keep financial records for your business separate from your personal finances, which is extremely important even for sole proprietorships.

Do you need professional EIN services in Kansas?

There are three ways to register for an EIN in Kansas: either by applying online through the IRS website, or by fax or mail. The quickest way to obtain your company’s EIN is by filing your application online. You’ll be able to get your EIN while logged into the IRS website after connecting and submitting your application. 

Often, business owners are focused on growing their businesses and don’t want to invest their time and effort into getting an EIN themselves. In this case, you may choose to hire a professional who can assist you with the EIN application and/or apply on behalf of your company. This is a relatively simple task that can be delegated to your registered agent while you stay on track with the important work that will make your business successful.

Kansas LLC Formation: The Basics

This step-by-step guide details the steps you need to name your Kansas LLC properly by searching if it is unique.

There are different costs to form an LLC in Kansas 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 Kansas – learn more about it.

LLCs in Kansas are required to file an annual report with the state. Learn more to avoid penalties.

Why is Tailor Brands the Best LLC Service in KS

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:

Easy and intuitive

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.

Friendly dashboard

Our platform is easy to use and is optimally designed to guide you through your LLC formation process and business journey.

Additional services

We offer more products to help you set and manage your business like registered agent, business licenses, and annual report.

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Form a Kansas 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.