How to start an LLC in Florida

Check the name is free

Search on Sunbiz name search. It shows names already on the Division's records and their status; it is only a preliminary check, and the Division says not to treat a name as approved until you receive its filing acknowledgment.

Name ending

Limited Liability Company, LLC or L.L.C. (a professional LLC uses Chartered, Professional Limited Liability Company, P.L.L.C. or PLLC)

Reserving

Name reservation: $25 holds an available name for 120 days and cannot be renewed (F.S. 605.01125, added in 2019). There is no form or online route: send a signed letter giving the name and your name and address. The 2017 Articles form still says reservations are no longer available; that line is out of date.

Words to avoid or that need permission:

• No wording that states or implies the LLC is organized for a purpose its articles and Chapter 605 do not allow
• No wording that states or implies a connection with a state or federal government agency, or with a corporation or entity chartered under US law

Also worth knowing:

• The name must be distinguishable on the Department of State's records; a different suffix (Inc./LLC), 'the/a/an', 'and' vs '&', singular/plural/possessive forms and punctuation or symbols do not make a name different.
• Leave the suffix off when searching for availability, as the Division advises.

Choose a registered agent

Can it be you?

Yes, an individual owner or principal can be the agent if they live in Florida and use a Florida street address, but the LLC itself can never be its own agent.

Address

The agent needs a Florida street address that is also its business address (the registered office); P.O. Boxes are not accepted.

Their consent

Yes: the agent must sign a written acceptance on the Articles saying it is familiar with and accepts the duties of the role; online, the agent types their own name in the signature block.

• An individual agent must reside in Florida, so an out-of-state owner cannot act as agent personally.
• A business can be the agent only if it is an authorized entity (corporation, LLC, LLP or LP) with an active Florida filing or registration.
• Florida charges a separate $25 registered agent designation fee on top of the $100 Articles fee, and $25 to change agents later.

Living outside Florida means paying someone to do it: see what registered agent services charge after the first year.

File the Articles of Organization (Form CR2E047)

File online at Sunbiz E-Filing. Fee: $125 ($100 Articles of Organization plus the required $25 registered agent designation); optional $5 certificate of status and $30 certified copy.

The form asks for:

• LLC name with an LLC ending
• Street address of the principal office and a mailing address (a P.O. Box is fine for mailing)
• Registered agent name and Florida street address
• Registered agent's signed acceptance of the appointment (typed name online)
• Purpose (only required for a professional LLC)
• Names and addresses of managers or authorized representatives (optional)
• Effective date (optional)
• Other provisions (optional)
• Signature of an authorized representative
• Correspondence name and email address
• Optional certificate of status and certified copy

What is different about Florida’s form:

• The registered agent must sign an acceptance statement on the Articles themselves; if the agent is a business, an individual principal of that business signs for it.
• Manager or authorized representative names are optional, but the Division warns that banks and Florida's Division of Workers' Compensation may require them to be on record.
• You may pick an effective date up to 5 business days before or 90 days after the filing date, which can push the first annual report back a year.
• The email address you give receives the filing confirmation and all future annual report reminder notices; online filers get nothing by post.

On paper: Yes: you can print form CR2E047 and mail it with a check or money order to the New Filing Section in Tallahassee; card payments are accepted only for online filings.

Wait for approval, or pay to go faster

No fixed time is promised: online filings are processed in the order they are received, and the confirmation is emailed once the document is examined and approved. Sunbiz publishes a Document Processing Dates page showing which receipt date it is working on (on June 11, 2026 it was processing online new-entity filings received June 5, 2026).

The Division states it does not offer expedited services; it mentions walk-in service at its Tallahassee office (2415 N. Monroe Street, Suite 810), where most walk-in requests are completed while you wait.

Do what comes after filing

Approval is the start. Get the LLC’s EIN, free from the IRS, then work through what Florida expects next:

• Annual reportBetween January 1 and May 1 every year, starting the calendar year after the Articles take effect · $138.75

  Filed online at Sunbiz; the fee is the $50 annual report fee plus the $88.75 supplemental corporate fee. It confirms or updates the LLC's addresses, agent, managers and FEIN and is required even if nothing changed.

• Late fee and administrative dissolutionLate fee from the day after May 1; dissolution if still not filed by the third Friday in September · $400 late fee (total $538.75)

  The $400 late charge cannot be waived. If the report is not filed by 5 p.m. Eastern on the third Friday in September, the LLC is administratively dissolved on the fourth Friday in September and must pay reinstatement plus all missed report fees to return.

• Sales and use tax registration (Florida Department of Revenue)Before you start making taxable sales or rentals

  If the LLC sells taxable goods, rents property or accommodation, charges admission or provides taxable services, it must register each location with the Department of Revenue online or on the Florida Business Tax Application (Form DR-1). You then receive a Certificate of Registration (DR-11) that must be displayed at the business.

• Reemployment tax registration (employers)By the end of the month after the calendar quarter in which the LLC becomes liable

  An LLC becomes liable once it pays $1,500 or more in wages in a calendar quarter or has an employee during any 20 weeks of a year; it registers with the Department of Revenue online or on Form DR-1. Florida has no personal income tax, so there is no state income tax withholding account to open.

• State income tax checkOnly if the LLC is taxed as a corporation or has a corporate owner

  An LLC taxed as a corporation files the Florida corporate income/franchise tax return (F-1120); an LLC taxed as a partnership files Form F-1065 only if at least one owner is a corporation. A single-member LLC disregarded for tax files nothing separately unless owned by a corporation.

• Local business tax receipt and professional licensesBefore trading in the county or city

  Florida has no statewide general business license. Counties and cities may levy a local business tax for the privilege of doing business there, and regulated professions are licensed by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

• Fictitious name registration (only if trading under another name)Before doing business under the other name · $50

  The LLC must register the trading name with the Division of Corporations and certify that it advertised the name at least once in a newspaper in the county of its principal place of business.