Every company starts somewhere. It’s usually with paperwork.

Two things before we start:

You cannot file a Limited Liability Company (LLC) in Arizona online. Seems a bit ridiculous, but it’s true.

You’re do-it-yourself budget for the whole process will probably be $100-$200 depending on the options you choose.

Let’s get you set up.

1-Doing the Paperwork

Choosing a name is often both the easiest and hardest step. Assuming you have one in mind for your business, first check its availability in the Arizona Corporation Commission’s (ACC) database. After a search deems your name available, you can reserve it for 120 days electronically for $45 or by snail mail for $10.

Next, head over to the Arizona Corporation Commission’s Corporate Filings webpage. Under the section titled “New Domestic Limited Liability Companies,” you can find the three forms you need.

Download and fill out forms LL0004 and CFCVLR.

Form LL0004 is the Articles of Organization form and easily the best place to start. You will fill out all the important information like the name of the company and the office address. It has a fantastic checklist as well as links to Arizona laws regarding LLCs and instructions on what to do once your LLC filing is approved.

2-Filing the Forms

After filing everything out, you can mail your forms to

Arizona Corporation Commission                     OR                          Arizona Corporation Commission

1300 W. Washington St. 1st Floor                                                       400 W. Congress Ste #221

Phoenix, AZ 85007                                                                                  Tucson, AZ 85701

Be sure to include your $50 filing fee ($85 for expedited filing) for LL0004. In our experience, expedited is the way to go. It takes about a week as opposed to the estimate of two months with normal filing.

They take cash, check, or money order made out to Arizona Corporation Commission. If you go down to the office in person to file the forms you can use Visa, MasterCard, and American Express as well.

3-Notice of Publication

Finally, you have to provide a “Notice of Publication” using form LL0001 within 60 days of the date your forms were filed with the ACC. Notice must be provided for 3 consecutive publications in a newspaper with general circulation in the county of Arizona listed as the LLC’s know place of business in section 2 of LL0004.

The ACC provides a list of publications by county. Fees for legal publication vary, but if you’re in Maricopa County you should probably budget about $50-$100 for this step.

Two pieces of advice:

Be sure to call and verify that the publication you end up using provides a notarized Affidavit of Publication to the ACC on your behalf. If they don’t, don’t use them.

Though there is a ticking clock, in general you want to wait to file the notice until after your application has been approved by the ACC. Once it is approved though, complete this step ASAP. Both considerations will help you avoid wasting time and money going through the process again.

Legal Help in LLC Filing

These steps can be done entirely on your own, but we have to remind you that we are not lawyers and if you’re in doubt about anything, you should consult a lawyer.  A specialist in organizational law can typically get all the necessary forms completed as well as draft up custom agreements between members in order to protect everyone’s interests.  Depending on the complexity, fees can go upwards of $1000, though it’s not unheard of to find a lawyer to form your LLC in under a week for $300 in addition to the filing and publication fees.

But really, an entrepreneur like yourself can get it done in a day. Better yet, hire a student using OrangeSlyce, point them to this post, and be done with it in a matter of minutes. Spend your money on entrepreneurship, not lawyers.

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