Register your business in Illinois

LLCs, corporations and nonprofits register with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Department of Business Services. Sole proprietors and general partnerships don’t register there. A name other than the owner’s own is a separate filing, and where you make it depends on whether you are a person or an entity.

What’s different in Illinois

• A corporation pays franchise tax with its annual report. The Secretary of State collects it, and the first $10,000 of liability is exempt. An LLC files an annual report but pays no franchise tax. Stay compliant has the dates.
• Assumed names are split by entity. A sole proprietor or partnership files with the county clerk of the county where the business is conducted, then publishes notice in a newspaper. An LLC or corporation registers the name with the Secretary of State.
• The annual report is tied to your anniversary month. An LLC files before the first day of the anniversary month. A corporation or nonprofit files within 60 days before the first day of the anniversary month.
• The registered agent has to be an Illinois resident or an authorized entity. A corporation’s individual agent also needs a business office at the registered office.

Do this

1. Pick your structure. LLC, corporation, nonprofit corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship. A sole proprietor or general partnership can skip to step 5. A professional LLC must be formed under the Professional Limited Liability Company Act. Whether a professional entity must register with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) before it operates wasn’t something we could confirm.* Check the official source.
2. Check the name. Search the Secretary of State’s business entity search first: the Secretary of State's corporation and LLC search covers corporations, nonprofits, limited partnerships, LLCs and LLPs. An LLC name must include "limited liability company," "L.L.C." or "LLC" and may not include "Corporation," "Corp.," "Incorporated," "Inc.," "Ltd.," "Co.," "Limited Partnership" or "L.P.". A corporate name must include "corporation," "company," "incorporated" or "limited" (or an abbreviation). Check the web and the federal trademark database too. Not ready to file? Reserve the name for 90 days for $25.
3. Choose a registered agent. For an LLC that is an Illinois resident individual or an entity authorized to transact business in Illinois. For a corporation it is an Illinois resident individual with a business office at the registered office, or an authorized domestic or foreign entity. You can be your own if you live in Illinois and, for a corporation, work from the registered office.
4. File with the Secretary of State. File Articles of Organization for an LLC or Articles of Incorporation for a corporation. The Secretary of State’s Business Services pages hold the online filing service, the forms and the current fee schedule. We could not read them from here, so the fees on this page come from the Illinois Compiled Statutes, and form numbers, processing times and online totals are not shown.* Check there for how to file today and the total you will pay. Need it faster? Expedited service means services rendered same day or within 24 hours: $100 extra on LLC articles and $100 on corporate articles. It isn’t available for online annual reports or online good standing requests.
5. File an assumed name if you use another name. Where depends on the entity (below). For a sole proprietor or partnership, doing business under an unregistered assumed name is a Class C misdemeanor, with each day of business a separate offense.
6. Order a certificate of good standing if your bank asks for one. It is $25 for an LLC or corporation and $5 for a nonprofit.
7. Calendar the first deadlines. The annual report is due before your anniversary month, and a corporation’s franchise tax goes with it. How the state sets your anniversary month wasn’t available to us.* Check the official source. Selling taxable goods or services, or hiring, means registering with the state: Get your tax IDs.

By structure

LLC

File Articles of Organization ($150). The LLC’s existence begins on filing of the articles of organization, and the articles can name a later effective date no more than 60 days out. The LLC then files an annual report every year, $75, due before the first day of the anniversary month, and pays no franchise tax. An LLC that uses a name other than its legal name registers it with the Secretary of State: $150 at most, lower later in the five-year cycle. The first term runs until the anniversary month in the next calendar year evenly divisible by 5, and each renewal lasts 5 years. Check the total when you file.

Corporation

File Articles of Incorporation ($150). Every year the corporation files an annual report, $75, due within 60 days before the first day of the anniversary month, and pays franchise tax with it. The rate is 1/10 of 1% of paid-in capital represented in Illinois, and the first $10,000 of liability is exempt, so a corporation whose franchise tax comes to that or less owes none. S corp and C corp are federal tax choices you make with the IRS afterward, not Illinois forms. An assumed corporate name is registered with the Secretary of State. The first term runs until the anniversary month in the next calendar year evenly divisible by 5, and each renewal lasts 5 years.

Nonprofit

File articles of incorporation under the not-for-profit act ($50). The annual report is $10, due within 60 days before the first day of the anniversary month. Expedited nonprofit filings are $25. 501(c)(3) status is a separate application to the IRS. Whether a nonprofit that asks the public for donations needs a charity registration in Illinois isn’t covered by the sources we read.* Check with a legal professional.

Partnership

Partners using a name other than their own names file with the county clerk of the county where the business is conducted. The fees for a limited partnership and a limited liability partnership weren’t in the statute text we could read.* Check the official source before you file.

Sole proprietorship

No formation filing. If you don’t register another entity, you are a sole proprietor. A business name other than your own legal name means an assumed name with the county clerk of the county where the business is conducted, for a $5 indexing and filing fee at the clerk’s office. Notice is then published once a week for 3 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county. The first publication has to run within 15 days of the filing, and proof of publication goes to the clerk within 50 days. The registration is void unless proof of publication is filed with the county clerk. The newspaper’s charge for the notice is separate and wasn’t in our sources.* Check with your county clerk. Who files: sole proprietors and general partnerships; corporations, LLCs, limited partnerships and LLPs are outside the Act.

Formed in another state

An LLC or corporation formed elsewhere applies before it does business in Illinois. An LLC files an application for admission ($150). A corporation files an application for authority to transact business in Illinois ($150), and a nonprofit pays $50. Forming in another state covers the tradeoffs.

What you get back

Your filing comes back as a copy endorsed Filed with the month, day and year, returned to the person who filed it. You will need the filed articles for your EIN and your bank account. An assumed name filed with the county is recorded by the clerk.