Frequently Asked Questions About Starting a Indiana LLC

There are a few options to choose from when it comes to forming a business in Indiana. From a legal perspective, there are three main types of Indiana for-profit business entities: LLCs, S Corporations or C Corporations. For many entrepreneurs, we believe an LLC provides the right ratio of liability protection and ease of administration.

In order to form an LLC in the state of Indiana, there are some minimum requirements you must meet. These are a completed set of Articles of Organization, a business name and a fee you pay to the Indiana Secretary of State, Business Services Division. We recommend taking some additional steps before formally starting your LLC:

• Research your target market to make sure there’s a demand for the products and services you provide.
• Read industry guides to give you a starting point in your niche.
• Create a comprehensive business plan that defines the most important aspects of your Indiana business.
• Write an Operating Agreement that covers how you will run your LLC.

After you’ve created your Indiana LLC, you will also need to review your business license requirements, understand ongoing filing needs, set up a separate business bank account and get an accountant.

In Indiana, you register a business by completing and filing your Articles of Organization with the Indiana Secretary of State, Business Services Division. You will need to gather information about your business, fill out the form and file it with the Secretary of State along with your filing fee. This will formally create your LLC in Indiana.

You can file your Articles of Organization on the Secretary of State website or mail it in. Alternatively, Bizee can guide you through every step of the process by getting details from you and filing the form on your behalf — for free! There’s no additional charge for our basic LLC filing service, so all you need to do is pay the Indiana state filing fee.

At the time of writing the fee charged by the Indiana Secretary of State, Business Services Division is $100. You can always check the latest Indiana filing fees here. You may also be able to pay an additional fee for expedited filing through Bizee, which will create your LLC faster. The amount of the expedited fee is dependent on whether expedited filing is available in your state, and how quickly you want your filing processed. Some LLC filing services do charge you extra to prepare and submit your filing documents, but at Bizee, we do this for free — so you only pay the state fee.

Once you’ve gathered all of your information together and filed your Articles of Organization (or had Bizee do it for you), it can take up to 10 business days for the Indiana Secretary of State to legally create your LLC. If you pay an additional expedited fee, your LLC may be able to be formed quicker, if the state is set up with expedited filing.

The name of your Indiana LLC must be unique, so you’ll need to check to see if it’s already being used by another business. You can do that via the Indiana Secretary of State website, or by using our fast and simple Business Name Search tool.

There are a few ways to register your Indiana LLC name.

• If you’re creating a new business and your business name is unique in Indiana and meets state naming rules, you simply include it in your Articles of Organization.
• If you want to change the legal name of your business, you must file Articles of Amendment with the Secretary of State.
• If you just want to do business under a different name, file a Certificate of Assumed Name with the Indiana Secretary of State, or we can do that on your behalf.

If you want to prevent people from using your business name across the U.S., you can file a trademark for the name. We can help.

In other states, the formal documents that you file to form a corporation or LLC might be known as Articles of Incorporation. In Indiana, this document is called your Articles of Organization, and it performs the same functions as the Articles of Incorporation.

Yes, the State of Indiana permits the formation of Series LLC within the state. A Series LLC is a special type of LLC where you create one “overall” business and then have individual, series LLCs within it, each counted as separate legal entities.

To form a Series LLC, simply fill out the Series LLC Articles of Organization form and file it with the Secretary of State. The fee for a Series LLC formation in Indiana is $250.

Yes, all legal business entities in Indiana, including LLCs, must have a Registered Agent at all times. Here at Bizee, we provide a free Indiana Registered Agent service for the first year if you file through us.

If you wish to change your Indiana Registered Agent you can do so by filing a Statement of Change of Registered Agent with the Secretary of State, Business Services Division. Here at Bizee, we provide a free Indiana Registered Agent service for the first year if you file through us. If you’ve been using a different Registered Agent and want to switch to us, we’ll file the Statement of Change on your behalf.

If you need to know the Registered Agent of a specific Indiana business, you can perform a Indiana Registered Agent search within the state's business database.

As an LLC, any business profits you earn will be reported on your personal 1040 filing and reported and taxed as “pass-through” income. You will typically need to pay:

Indiana charges a 7 percent state sales and use tax on all retail sales, leases and rentals of most goods. You will also need to pay sales tax if you provide a taxable service. You can find more sales tax information here.

You will need to register with the Indiana Department of Revenue in order to receive your Registered Retail Merchant Certificate. You can complete this process online.

The base rate for Indiana sales tax is 7 percent, and there may be additional sales tax depending on your region, county or city. Once you know your overall sales tax amount, calculate the value of all your taxable products and services. Then, multiply that by your sales tax rate to understand how much you will need to pay.

Once your LLC’s sales tax registration is complete, you will receive a letter with instructions on how often you must file a sales tax return and pay sales taxes. Returns and payments may be due monthly, quarterly or annually.

No, unlike several other states, the state of Indiana does not impose a franchise tax on businesses. In other states, some businesses are subjected to a tax simply for the privilege of doing business in that state - this is a franchise tax.

If you plan on forming a business in Indiana, you'll likely need some form of business license to operate. The types of business licenses you need will vary depending on your type of business, industry, location and various other factors. We can research the types of business licenses you might need for you.