Returned at the counter
The mistakes are ordinary. That is what makes them expensive.
Almost nothing that goes wrong with a new LLC is unusual. The same handful of errors account for most of the rejected filings, the lost entities and the surprise bills — and every one of them is avoidable once you know it exists.
Entries
Five that come back again and again
Nothing is published yet. These are the mistakes the write-ups cover, with the correction under each. They are described as commonly-made errors — none of them is a case we handled.
Applying for the EIN before the entity exists
The IRS will issue an EIN to a business that the state has not yet approved. If the filing is then rejected, or the name changes, the number is attached to something that never came into existence.
Correction: wait for the state's approval. The EIN takes minutes and is free directly from the IRS.
Naming yourself as agent without thinking about the address
It is permitted in every state where you meet the address requirement, and it saves a recurring fee. What it also does is put a physical address into a public, permanently searchable record.
Correction: decide this before filing, not after. Changing it later means a filing, and the old record does not disappear from data aggregators.
Forming in a state you do not operate in
Delaware, Wyoming and Nevada get recommended to people who have no reason to be there. Operating from your own state generally means registering there as well — two sets of fees, two agents, two reports.
Correction: for a business that operates in one state, that is usually the state to form in. The exceptions are real but narrow.
Treating the annual report as optional
The filing that creates the entity is the memorable one. The report that keeps it alive arrives a year later, addressed to whatever details are on the record.
Correction: put the date in a calendar the day the entity is approved. This is the single cheapest thing on the list.
Running the business out of a personal account
An LLC's protection assumes the entity is treated as separate. Paying business costs from a personal account is the most common way that separation quietly stops being true.
Correction: open the account as soon as the EIN arrives. Neither filing route does this for you.
Scope
How these are written up
No case studies
Every entry describes a commonly-made mistake, not a file we handled. An invented case reads exactly like a real one, so there are none.
Not legal advice
What a state requires is a matter of record. Whether a structure suits your situation is a question for someone qualified to look at it.
Nothing is scored
No ratings and no severity grades. Where one mistake costs more than another, it is said in words.
Affiliate links are disclosed
Some links earn a commission. It never decides which correction a page gives, and it is stated wherever it applies.