New Business Checklist: What to Do After Forming Your LLC

Right after the state approves an LLC, most new owners ask the same thing: where do I start, and how do I avoid mistakes? The first step is the EIN, and the company can apply for it from the day of approval. Taxes, licenses and insurance come up over the next weeks. A year later, the state and the IRS expect to hear from the company again.

The usual new business checklist after forming an LLC covers:

• an EIN (free from the IRS) and a business bank account
• state and local tax registration, plus the licenses and permits your activity needs
• insurance and bookkeeping
• a business address
• a way for customers to find you: a Google Business Profile if you qualify, a website, listings and social profiles
• a calendar for the filings that come back every year

If you live outside the US, a few of these items work differently, and they're covered near the end.

The day of the approval: the whole new business checklist

On that first day, it helps to see everything in one place. The items below are grouped by area, not ranked. You can work on most of them at the same time.

Keep the operating agreement and records with your formation papers. Form 5472 applies only if the LLC is foreign-owned.

New business checklist items that depend on each other

The table doesn't show which tasks hold up others. There's no fixed order for these items, and every business does them a little differently. But a few real dependencies exist, and they explain why some tasks stall.

The SBA's launch guide lists eight areas:

1. location
2. structure
3. name
4. registration
5. federal and state tax IDs
6. licenses and permits
7. a bank account
8. insurance

Your LLC already exists, so the first four are behind you. The rest come up over the next weeks.

The first morning: getting your EIN

So the EIN usually comes first, because the bank account and several tax forms depend on it. An EIN (Employer Identification Number) is the federal tax number the IRS gives your company. The IRS says you generally need one to:

• hire employees
• operate a partnership or corporation
• pay sales and excise taxes
• change the business structure

Banks also ask for it when you open a business account. So in practice almost every LLC gets one.

When you search for how to apply, you'll see paid services near the top. The IRS says it plainly: "You never have to pay a fee for an EIN." The SBA also warns against websites that charge a fee. These sites often look official, so check that you're on irs.gov before you enter anything.

You can apply online if the company is formed in the US and its principal place of business is in the US. The responsible party also needs an SSN or ITIN. When the online application is approved, you get the EIN at once. The online service runs on Eastern time:

• Monday to Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.
• Saturday, 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
• Sunday, 6:00 p.m. to midnight

Set aside enough time before you start. You can't save the application, and the session ends after 15 minutes of inactivity. The IRS also issues one EIN per responsible party per day.

Form SS-4 is the EIN application. On it, the responsible party has to be a person rather than a company. That person gives an SSN, an ITIN or an EIN.

Once issued, an EIN can't be canceled. The SBA says you generally need a new one when the ownership or structure changes. More detail is in What Is an EIN (Employer Identification Number)?.

How the IRS taxes your LLC by default

With the EIN in hand, you may wonder how the IRS will tax the company. It already treats your LLC in a certain way, even if you never chose anything. By default, the IRS doesn't tax an LLC as a separate company. A single-member LLC is a "disregarded entity", and its income goes on the owner's tax return. A multi-member LLC is taxed as a partnership.

An LLC can choose to be taxed as a corporation by filing Form 8832. The election can start up to 75 days before you file the form or up to 12 months after. Even without it, a single-member LLC is a separate entity for employment tax and certain excise taxes. That matters once you start paying wages.

Before the first job: licenses, permits and state taxes

Now a client wants to book you. The IRS side is federal, and your state and city have their own rules on top of it. Forming a company doesn't by itself give it permission to operate.

The SBA says most small businesses need a mix of federal and state licenses and permits. The exact list depends on your activity, your location and local rules. Fees differ too, and some licenses expire after a set period. So write down the renewal date when a license is issued.

State taxes vary the same way. The SBA notes that seven states have no income tax. In the others, the rules depend on the business structure. Your state's revenue department handles tax registration, and the city or county handles local licenses.

Looking ahead to your first tax year

State registration covers only part of the tax picture. The other part is what you'll owe the IRS in year one. IRS Publication 583 describes four types of business taxes: income tax, self-employment tax, employment tax and excise tax. A few thresholds decide which rules apply to you.

The $1,000 estimated tax rule covers sole proprietors, partners and S corp shareholders. If you hire, wages paid to employees go on Form W-2.

You'll also choose a tax year (calendar or fiscal) and an accounting method (cash or accrual). Changing either one later may need IRS approval. So talk it through with whoever prepares your first return.

The first money comes in: account, insurance and records

Those taxes are much easier to handle when the business money sits in its own place. That's the next thing you set up once payments start.

A separate business bank account

The SBA advises opening a business bank account as soon as you start taking or spending money as a business. It says you can do it once you have an EIN. Keeping business funds apart gives what the SBA calls "limited personal liability protection".

IRS Publication 583 also tells businesses to keep their funds in a separate account. Paying personal costs from the business account weakens that separation, and so does the reverse. It also makes the tax return harder to prepare.

Business insurance

Before the first big job, you'll want to know what happens if something goes wrong. The SBA lists the common types of business insurance:

A home-based business rider is added to your home policy.

If you plan to hire, the SBA says businesses with employees must carry workers' compensation, unemployment insurance and disability insurance. In practice each state sets these rules, and some add their own. So check your state's website before you hire anyone.

Bookkeeping and records

Your new LLC doesn't need complex software. But it does need a complete paper trail. Publication 583 asks you to keep invoices, receipts and canceled checks until the period of limitations ends. How long that is depends on the case:

• generally 3 years
• 6 years if you leave out income over 25% of the gross income on the return
• 7 years if you claim a loss from bad debt or worthless securities
• no limit if a return is fraudulent or was never filed

Deciding which address the business uses

Soon you'll have to fill in an address on a website form, a tax form or a listing. Your business address shows up on tax forms and your website. It also appears on Google and in directory listings. Each of these places has its own rules, so it helps to know the main options before you commit to one.

These are the usual options and how Google treats them:

1. A registered agent address is where the state sends official mail. It's usually not where you work.
2. A virtual office receives mail. But Google says virtual offices aren't eligible for a Business Profile.
3. P.O. boxes and mailboxes at remote locations are rejected by Google too.
4. A co-working space qualifies only with clear signage, staff during business hours and customers received there.
5. Your own office, shop or home is a real location.

If you work from home and travel to customers, you can hide the address on Google. The right choice depends on how you serve customers. The options are compared in detail in Virtual Address vs PO Box vs Physical Address: Which Can Your Business Use.

That usually means the website, the listings and any other place the address was published.

Getting found: Google profile, website and listings

The address also matters for what comes next. Before a customer calls a new company, they look it up. The startup checklists we reviewed mostly stop at taxes and insurance. But your LLC has no public track record yet. The items in this section give customers and partners something to find.

Google Business Profile

A Google Business Profile is the listing that shows up in Google Search and Google Maps. For local businesses it gives more chances to appear in nearby searches. Google still decides what to show and to whom.

Google has clear eligibility rules:

• The business must meet customers in person during its stated hours. Online-only businesses don't qualify.
• The address must be a real location with permanent signage.
• A service-area business, like a plumber who visits customers, keeps one profile with a hidden address. Its area should generally stay within about 2 hours of driving.
• The name should be the real-world name. Don't add "LLC" or "Inc" unless you use it, for example on signage or invoices.
• The phone must reach the business and be under its direct control.
• The website must be the business's own site. A social media page doesn't count.
• Each location gets one profile, since duplicates cause display problems.

Then Google verifies the business. One method is a video: a live, continuous, unedited recording of at least 30 seconds. The review can take up to 5 business days. What the profile is for and the work behind it are covered in What Is a Google Business Profile and Why a New Business Needs One.

Website or landing page

A new business rarely needs a big site at the start. It needs one clear page that:

• gives the business name
• says what you do and where
• explains how to reach you
• shows the company is real through photos, licenses or reviews

For Google, the site also has to be your own, not a social media page.

Directory listings, social profiles and press releases

Directories are online catalogs of businesses, such as map apps, review sites and industry lists. Social profiles are the company's pages on social networks. Both give people more places to find the business and check it before they get in touch. A press release is optional. For a new company, its value is a public record others can find.

A year later: the yearly filings for a new business

Once the company is set up and visible, it's easy to forget the calendar. But the state and the IRS expect to hear from you every year. Missing these usually costs more than handling them on time. These are the ones that tend to come back:

1. your federal income tax return
2. estimated tax payments, where they apply
3. Forms 1099-NEC and W-2, if you pay people
4. your state's annual report or fee for LLCs, if it has one
5. renewals for licenses and permits that expire
6. Form 5472, if the LLC is foreign-owned

Check whether your state needs an annual report and when it's due. The rules by state are in LLC Annual Report: Requirements, Fees and Due Dates by State. These dates are easiest to manage if they go into a calendar as soon as the LLC is approved.

You may also read that every company must file a BOI (beneficial ownership information) report. Older guides say so, including one SBA page, and that advice is out of date. FinCEN removed BOI reporting for US companies in March 2025, and a final rule took effect on August 14, 2026. US-formed companies no longer file. Companies formed abroad and registered to do business in a US state may still need to report.

If you're running the company from abroad

If you live outside the US, you've probably noticed that some items above assume an SSN or a US office. Most of the checklist stays the same for you. But a few items work differently.

Getting an EIN without an SSN

You can't apply online if the principal place of business is outside the US. Non-residents apply with Form SS-4 in one of three ways.

The phone number isn't toll-free. It works Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time.

The responsible party on the form must be a person. A third-party designee can apply for you. That's optional, and the designee must sign the form.

Form 5472

A US single-member LLC wholly owned by a foreign person counts as a "reporting corporation" here. Every year it files Form 5472 attached to a pro forma Form 1120. It's due by the Form 1120 due date, including extensions. A CPA guide gives this as April 15 for a calendar year, with an extension to October 15. Confirm the date on irs.gov.

The penalty for not filing on time is $25,000. Say the failure goes on more than 90 days after the IRS sends a notice. Then another $25,000 is added for each related party for every 30-day period. The full rules are in Form 5472 for Foreign-Owned US LLCs: Who Must File, Due Date and Penalties.

BOI and the address question

An LLC formed in the US doesn't file a BOI report, whoever owns it. The rule follows where the company is formed. On the address side, a virtual office can receive your mail. But you can't use it for a Google Business Profile. If the business serves customers in person in the US, it needs a real location that meets Google's rules.

Deciding what to hand off

By now the list may feel long, and you don't have to handle every item alone. You can handle most of the legal and financial items on your own. For US owners the EIN takes one online session and costs nothing. A bank account and bookkeeping take time, not special knowledge. Taxes are different. Given the size of the penalty, hand Form 5472 and your first returns to an accountant.

The online items carry a different kind of risk. Each platform has its own rules. One wrong decision, like an ineligible address type, can get a profile rejected or suspended. Doing it yourself is realistic for a small local business with a real location where it serves customers.

Outside help is more useful if:

• you live outside the US
• you use a virtual address
• you need many listings at once
• a verification has already failed

We handle the online items for new companies: the Google profile and its verification, directory listings and a landing page. If you do hire someone, make sure every account is registered in your name.

What to do this month

Start with the items others wait on, mainly the EIN, since the bank asks for it. Put every yearly date into one calendar while the details are fresh. Before an address goes on your website or documents, check it against Google's rules.

If Form 5472 or your first tax return worries you, that's the part worth handing to an accountant. The state-by-state deadlines are in LLC Annual Report: Requirements, Fees and Due Dates by State.