How to start an LLC in Utah

Check your business name is free

Search for your name on Business Entity Search. The Division's search lets you look up existing businesses and check whether a name is free. But a name that looks free is not final until the Division approves your filing.

Your name must end with

"Limited liability company", "limited company", L.L.C., LLC, L.C. or LC. You can shorten "limited" to Ltd. and "company" to Co.

Holding a name

Name reservation: $22 for 120 calendar days. It is optional. The Division asks you not to reserve a name if you are ready to file for the LLC itself.

Words you can’t use, or need permission to use:

• Olympic, Olympiad or Citius Altius Fortius (you need the US Olympic Committee's consent)
• The numbers 911 in that order (banned in names formed or changed on or after May 4, 2022)
• Bank, banker, banking, banc, banco, bancorp, savings bank, savings and loan, building and loan, industrial loan, thrift, credit union, trust, trustee, trust company, escrow and similar financial words (you need written approval from the Department of Financial Institutions)
• Any name that suggests the LLC is a Utah state or local government agency

Also worth knowing:

• The name must be clearly different (distinguishable) from names on the Division's records. These include Utah businesses not closed down, registered out-of-state businesses, registered DBAs (trading names), and reserved or registered names. So an existing DBA can block an LLC name.
• Some differences do not make a name different enough. These are: the business-type ending; the words the, and, a or plus; punctuation, spacing or special characters; capital letters; singular or plural; or short forms.

Choose your registered agent

Every LLC needs a registered agent: a person or company with an address in Utah who receives legal papers and official letters for it.

Can you do it yourself?

Yes. You can add yourself as the registered agent. A person, a Utah business, an unregistered business or a commercial agent can serve, as long as there is a Utah street address. Owners without one can hire a commercial agent or a Utah attorney.

Address rules

The agent needs a Utah street address. A P.O. box is allowed only as an extra mailing address.

Do they need to agree?

By naming an agent in the filing, your LLC confirms that the agent has agreed. No separate consent form is filed.

• Commercial registered agents (professional agent services) file a listing statement with the Division ($52). If your LLC uses one, you give only the agent's name, not its address.
• Your LLC can instead name a role or position inside the company (for example, its manager) as its agent, with that position's Utah address.
• The Division must publish a daily list of filings that name each registered agent. Each list stays up for at least 14 days.

File the form that creates your LLC

The form is called the Certificate of Organization. File it online at Utah Business Registration. The fee: $59 ($54 filing fee plus the $5 state single sign-on portal fee)

You’ll be asked for:

• LLC name
• Street and mailing address of the main office (principal office)
• Registered agent (who receives legal papers for your LLC): a listed commercial agent by name, or a noncommercial agent's name and Utah street address
• Details of the principals (key people such as managers, owners and organizers)
• Any documents the law requires (uploaded)
• Electronic signature with the signer's name and role
• Optional statements, such as purpose or how long the LLC will last, and an optional later start date up to 90 days ahead

Good to know about the Utah form:

• You must create a UtahID (the state's single login for online services) before you can file. The $5 portal fee is included in the $59.
• Filing Authority turns on automatically for businesses created after September 16, 2024. The email address that registered the LLC becomes its administrator. Others need that person's approval to file changes, or a notarized affidavit (a sworn statement signed in front of a notary) sent to the Division.
• The law only requires the name, main office and registered agent on the certificate. The Division's old paper form marked members and managers as optional. But the online system asks for principals (key people).
• Utah reorganized and renumbered its business law on October 1, 2026. The LLC Act moved from Title 48 Chapter 3a to Title 16 Chapter 20. The rules on naming, filing and registered agents are now in Title 16 Chapter 1a. Because of this, many Division pages still give the old section numbers.

Prefer paper? Forming an LLC is now built into the online system. To file paper documents, you upload them through 'Submit a Paper Filing' inside the same UtahID system. They go to manual review (5 to 7 business days).

Wait for approval (or pay to speed it up)

Most filings are processed right away. Allow 5 to 7 business days for filings that need manual review. These include paper uploads, filings with attachments, filings that need a Utah State Tax Commission review, and name conflict checks.

The Division's renewal page (September 2026 copy) said processing took 7 to 10 business days. That does not match the newer wording on its home page.

After approval: what to do next

Once your LLC is approved, get its EIN (the business tax number), free from the IRS. Then work through what Utah asks for next:

• Annual renewal (annual report)Every year by the last day of the month your LLC was formed in, starting the year after you form; you can file up to 60 days early · $18 ($13 plus the $5 portal fee under 2026 H.B. 8); $10 late fee

  The renewal confirms or updates the main office, registered agent (who receives legal papers for your LLC) and principals (key people). The Division mails a renewal postcard to the registered agent when the filing period opens.

• Avoid falling behind and being closed down by the stateIf a renewal is more than 60 days late, the Division can start closing the LLC down · Reinstatement: $54, plus $18 for each missed year and a $10 delinquency (late) fee (Division fee schedule)

  The Division sends a notice and gives you 60 days to fix the problem. After that, the state closes the LLC down. It can then only wind up (finish its business and close) or apply to be brought back (reinstatement).

• Utah State Tax Commission registration (TC-69)Before you make taxable sales or pay wages · Free (the sales tax license is issued without a fee)

  You file the Utah State Business and Tax Registration (TC-69) online through the Tax Commission's Taxpayer Access Point (TAP). It opens accounts such as a sales and use tax license (use tax covers goods used in the state when no sales tax was paid) or withholding (tax taken from pay). Under Utah law, it is illegal to do business without a sales tax license you are required to have.

• Department of Workforce Services unemployment insurance accountOnce the LLC employs anyone

  Under Utah law, an employer with one or more people working for any part of a day in a calendar year must pay unemployment contributions. Workforce Services takes new employer registrations online at jobs.utah.gov.

• Pass-through income tax return (LLCs with more than one owner)By the 15th day of the fourth month after the tax year ends, or the federal due date if that is later · No tax on the LLC itself for a pass-through LLC

  Utah taxes an LLC the same way the IRS does. An LLC taxed as a partnership is a pass-through LLC: its profits pass to the owners, and it pays no Utah income tax itself. But it must file a return if it has income from Utah.

• Local business license (no general state license)Before you start doing business

  After you register with the Division, you get your business license from the city, town or county where the business is located or operates.

• DBA registration (if you do business under another name)Before using the other name; renew every 3 years · $22 to register; $18 to renew

  A DBA (a trading name that is different from the LLC's legal name) is registered with the same Division. It must keep a registered agent, and it is on the same name list as LLCs.