How to start an LLC in New York

How much does it cost to start an LLC in New York?

The $200 filing fee is not the real cost of forming a New York LLC. Within 120 days the LLC must also publish a notice in two newspapers and file a Certificate of Publication, which carries its own $50 state fee, and the newspapers charge for the notices at rates the state does not publish. Expedited handling is charged per document and applies to paper filings; Business Express says it is not required for online filing. Optional extras: an official name availability ruling is $5 per name, a name reservation is $20, and a certified copy of the filed Articles is $10.

Sources: New York filing fee and New York filing office, reviewed September 24, 2026.

What are the steps to form an LLC in New York?

You file online through New York Business Express, which needs a free account before you can file. Filing online through Business Express as the owner means signing in to, or creating, a NY.gov account first. Someone filing on another person's behalf is sent instead to the Department of State's own online filing system, whose sign-in rules could not be read. Without going online, the Department of State takes the Articles of Organization by mail, by email with a signed credit card authorization form, or in person at One Commerce Plaza, 99 Washington Avenue, Albany, sixth floor, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Division of Corporations no longer accepts filings by fax.

1. Check the name in the state's business database. Free. What you need: The name to search, with a choice of how to match it (begins with, contains and similar), and optionally the entity type and status.

   What you get: A list of existing entities with similar names. How long it takes: Instant

   The Department of State says this database is for checking entities already on file and should not be used to decide whether a name is acceptable. A clear result is not a reservation or an approval.

   Where to do this

2. Ask for an official name availability ruling, if you want one. Costs $5. What you need: A written request, by mail or email, saying you want to know whether a name is available and listing each name to be searched. It cannot be done by phone.

   What you get: A written answer on whether the name is available as of the date and time of the search. It is not an approval of the name.

   Optional. The Department of State calls this the only way to find out whether a name is available before filing, and suggests attaching the response to the Articles, though it is not required.

   Where to do this

3. Reserve the name, if you are not ready to file yet. Costs $20. What you need: The applicant's name and address, the exact name to reserve, and a checkbox for what the reservation is for (a new domestic LLC, in this case), signed by the applicant.

   What you get: A Certificate of Reservation holding the name for 60 days. It must be attached to the Articles of Organization when you file. The reservation can be extended up to two times, by written request filed before it expires, for up to 60 more days each.

   Optional. Skip it if you are filing the Articles right away. Each extension request costs $20, according to the Department of State, and must be filed before the current reservation expires with the Certificate of Reservation attached.

   Where to do this

4. Prepare the Articles of Organization. Free. What you need: The state's form has three articles: the LLC's exact name; the New York county where its office will be (county only, no street address); and the mailing address where the Secretary of State, as the LLC's agent for legal papers, will forward any lawsuit served, plus an optional email address for notice of electronic service. The organizer signs and prints their name, and the last page asks for the filer's name and mailing address. The name must be written the same way everywhere it appears. A cover sheet asks for a contact name, mailing address, email and phone.

   What you get: Articles of Organization ready to file.

   The filer cannot be the LLC being formed. The state's form leaves out optional provisions the law allows, such as a later effective date of up to 60 days, a set dissolution date, a registered agent in addition to the Secretary of State, or a business purpose; to include any of these you draft your own Articles under the statute instead of using the form. The form does not ask whether the LLC is member-managed or manager-managed.

   Where to do this

5. File the Articles of Organization and pay the filing fee. Costs $200. What you need: The completed Articles, the $200 fee, and the Certificate of Reservation if you reserved the name. Paper filers who want faster handling add an expedite fee, paid separately.

   What you get: The filed Articles and a filing receipt showing the filing date, the LLC's name, an extract of the Articles and the fees paid. The receipt is your proof of filing and the state does not issue duplicates. How long it takes: Online, the Department of State says the filing receipt arrives by email within minutes. Business Express lists an average processing time of 7 business days; paid expedited handling brings a paper filing down to 24 hours, the same day, or 2 hours.

   The LLC exists from the filing date, or from a later effective date if the Articles state one. The 120-day publication deadline counts from that date.

   Where to do this

6. Adopt a written operating agreement. Free. What you need: The members must adopt a written operating agreement covering the LLC's business, how its affairs are run, and the rights and duties of members and managers. The state prescribes no form.

   What you get: An internal document the LLC keeps. It is never filed with the state.

   It may be signed before, at the time of, or within 90 days after the Articles are filed. The Department of State notes the law is silent on the consequences of not adopting one.

   Where to do this

What does an LLC name need to include in New York?

The name must include one of these: Limited Liability Company, L.L.C., LLC. Some words cannot appear in an LLC name at all, including corporation, incorporated, partnership, attorney, cooperative, board of trade, chamber of commerce, state police and urban development. Others need a named approval attached to the Articles: bank, insurance, trust, loan, mortgage, finance and similar financial words need the Department of Financial Services; school, college, university, academy, institute, museum, library and similar education words need the Commissioner of Education or Board of Regents; exchange needs the Attorney General; blind or handicapped needs the social services department; United Nations needs the UN Secretary General. The Department of State publishes a chart of every restricted or prohibited word with the statute behind it. Check a name with the New York name search.

What is due after you form an LLC in New York?

Apply for a federal EIN. The IRS issues an EIN free and immediately online. The IRS warns that websites charging for an EIN are not the IRS; it never charges a fee. Source.

Register for sales tax and as an employer, if they apply. Sales tax registration is done through Business Express and needs a NY.gov Business account; the state then issues a Certificate of Authority that must be displayed at the place of business. One employer registration, Form NYS-100, opens both the unemployment insurance and the withholding accounts. Workers compensation and disability and Paid Family Leave coverage are bought from an insurance carrier, not registered for. The site's state compliance guide for New York carries the payroll details. Source.

Check state and local licenses and permits. The Department of State points founders to New York Business Express for state licenses and permits, and to the county clerk and the city, town or village clerk where the business operates for local ones. Source.

Publish notice of formation and file the Certificate of Publication. The $50 is only the state's filing fee. The newspapers set their own charges, and the state does not publish them, so no figure is given here. The notice's details, including the LLC's name and filing date, must match the state's records exactly. Missing the deadline suspends the LLC's authority to do business in New York until the certificate is filed; it does not void the LLC's contracts or remove the members' limited liability, and filing late lifts the suspension. Source.

File Form IT-204-LL and pay the annual filing fee. A single-owner LLC treated as a disregarded entity always pays $25. An LLC taxed as a partnership pays by its New York source gross income for the previous tax year: $25 up to $100,000, $50 up to $250,000, $175 up to $500,000, $500 up to $1,000,000, $1,500 up to $5,000,000, $3,000 up to $25,000,000 and $4,500 above that. A new LLC with no prior-year New York income pays the $25 minimum in its first year. Paying late brings penalties and interest. This fee is in place of corporate franchise tax, which applies only to an LLC taxed as a corporation. Source.

File the first Biennial Statement. It confirms the address where the Secretary of State forwards legal papers, and is filed online with the LLC's exact name and DOS ID number. The state emails a reminder only if it has an email address on file. Missing it does not dissolve the LLC, but the state's records and any Certificate of Status will show the LLC as past due, which can hold up a loan, lease or sale. Expedited handling is not available for this filing. Source.

Federal beneficial ownership (BOI) reporting. This rule changed several times in 2024 and 2025, and older guidance on FinCEN's own site saying U.S. companies must report is out of date. New York's own beneficial ownership disclosure law, in force since January 1, 2026, likewise applies only to LLCs formed outside the United States; a New York LLC files nothing under it. Source.

Where is the official New York guidance wrong or incomplete?

Official help pages are often the last thing an agency updates. Where one disagrees with the statute or the current form, the statute or form is what applies.

• The Department of State's main how-to page for forming an LLC still says the Articles can be filed by fax, but the Division of Corporations' current announcement says it no longer accepts filings or requests by fax and asks for email or mail instead. The announcement is the current rule. Source.
• The Department of State's how-to page says filing receipts for paper filings come back by first-class mail, but the cover sheet attached to the current Articles of Organization form says all documents will be returned to the email address given on the cover sheet. Source.
• The Department of State's Biennial Statement page gives two different hours for its online filing service on the same page: Monday to Friday 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Eastern in one place, and 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in another. Source.

What else trips people up when forming an LLC in New York?

New York's added cost is the publication requirement, not the $200 filing fee. The newspapers are chosen by the county clerk of the county named in the Articles, not by the LLC, and the state does not publish their prices, so the county choice drives the bill. Six weekly notices plus the certificate filing must all fit inside 120 days, so publication cannot be rushed the way the filing can. New York makes the Secretary of State every LLC's agent for legal papers, so a separate registered agent is optional, and the state form does not ask whether the LLC is member-managed or manager-managed; that is set in the operating agreement.

Does New York have a franchise tax on an LLC?

No. A standard New York LLC (taxed as a partnership or disregarded entity) pays no corporate franchise tax. Instead it owes the annual IT-204-LL filing fee if it has any New York income, gain, loss or deduction: a flat $25 for a single-owner LLC treated as a disregarded entity, and $25 to $4,500 based on the prior year's New York-source gross income for an LLC taxed as a partnership. Only LLCs that elect corporate tax treatment pay franchise tax.

How is an LLC taxed in New York?

By default, an LLC is a pass-through entity: it pays no income tax itself, and the profits flow to the owners' personal returns. New York has a state individual income tax with a top rate of 10.9% (graduated brackets), so those profits are taxed on your New York return on top of federal tax. Nine graduated brackets from 4% to 10.9%. The top three rates (9.65%, 10.3%, 10.9%) are locked in through tax year 2027; the 10.9% top rate applies to income over $25 million.

An LLC can also elect to be taxed as an S-corp, which changes how owners pay self-employment tax. See LLC vs S-corp vs sole proprietorship and how self-employment tax works.