How to start an LLC in Washington

Start the filing

Create a CCFS account and log in. Choose Create or Register a Business, then "I would like to form a Washington State business," then WA Limited Liability Company. Leave "Defer Initial Report" unchecked so the Initial Report is filed free with the certificate.

UBI

Choose No unless this LLC has already registered with a state agency. Do not enter the UBI from a sole proprietorship. The LLC gets its own UBI when the filing is approved.

Business name

Enter the name, pick the designator (LLC, L.L.C., Limited Liability Company, or Limited Liability Co.), and click Look Up. The check does not catch filings that are still pending, so have a backup name ready.

Registered agent

For a commercial agent, search for the company and select it. To use yourself or someone you know, choose Noncommercial, click Add New Agent, and enter an email and a physical Washington street address. PO boxes and private mailboxes are rejected.

Principal office

The address where the LLC keeps its records, plus a required email. It must be a physical street address (no PO box or private mailbox), but it does not have to be in Washington. It appears on the public record.

Prepared certificate and other provisions

Choose No and leave Other Provisions blank. The Secretary of State says an uploaded certificate that conflicts with what you typed into the form is a very common reason online filings get sent back.

Duration and effective date

Leave duration as perpetual. The effective date can be the date of filing or a future date up to 90 days out, which is useful if you want the LLC to start on January 1.

Executor

The name and address of each person forming the LLC, usually you. This goes on the public record, so use an address you are comfortable seeing there.

Governors and nature of business

Governors are the people or entities who run the LLC. In a single-member LLC, that is you. Pick a nature of business from the list or type a short description. These two fields make up the free Initial Report.

Sign, pay, and wait

Type your name as the authorized person, review, add the filing to your cart, and check out. Online filing is $180 plus the $20 processing fee. Add the $100 expedite only if you need approval in about three business days instead of the typical five.

After approval

Your confirmation letter and filed certificate appear in the Notices and Filed Documents folder in your CCFS account. Download both. Your bank will ask for the filed certificate, and the DOR business license application asks for the UBI.

Do not upload an operating agreement, ownership details, or meeting minutes. The Secretary of State does not record them, removes them before filing, and says uploads delay review.

Filing by mail saves $20. The Secretary of State warns that paper filings are often returned for blank fields or addresses that fail USPS verification, and it publishes no processing time for mail. File online.

Initial Report

Due within 120 days of the date your Certificate of Formation took effect. $0 if filed with the Certificate, $10 if filed separately. It lists your principal office, registered agent, governors, and a short description of what the business does.

First Annual Report

Due the last day of your formation month, one year after you form. Example: form on March 12, and your Initial Report is due by July 10. Your first $70 Annual Report is due March 31 of the following year.

Every year after

$70, due the last day of the same month every year. You can file up to 180 days early (for a March 31 due date, from October 1). Filing early does not move next year's due date.

Reminder

The Secretary of State mails and emails a notice about 60 days before the due date. Not getting the notice does not excuse a late report, so set your own calendar reminder.

If you file late

The LLC goes delinquent and the report costs $95 instead of $70. Once the report is more than 120 days late, the Secretary of State can start administrative dissolution, and you have 60 days after that notice to fix it.

If the LLC is dissolved

A dissolved LLC can only wind down its affairs; it cannot keep doing business. You can apply for reinstatement for up to 5 years. It costs $140 plus every annual report fee you missed, and once approved it applies back to the dissolution date.

File the Initial Report in the same CCFS session as your Certificate of Formation. It saves $10 and removes a deadline from your first four months, when you are also getting an EIN, opening a bank account, and applying for a DOR business license. Before you start, have your governors' names ready (in a single-member LLC, that is usually just you) and a one-line description of the business.

You do not need a compliance service to file the Annual Report. It asks for the same information as the Initial Report, updated, and costs $70 on CCFS. Registered agent reminders are a convenience, not a reason to buy one. The Secretary of State says it does not send text messages asking for payment, so a text, or a mailer charging more than the state's $70 fee, is not from the state.

One trap: an Amended Annual Report ($10) updates your information between filings but does not count as your Annual Report. If your address or governors change close to your due date, make the change inside the Annual Report instead.

When you need it

Once gross income reaches $12,000 a year, or sooner if you collect sales tax, plan to hire within 90 days, do business under a name other than the LLC's exact legal name, need a city or state endorsement, or owe any tax or fee to DOR.

Cost

$50 processing fee to open a new business, plus any endorsement fees. Registering a trade name adds $5. Licenses with endorsements renew each year for a $5 processing fee plus the endorsement fees.

Timeline

About 10 business days online. City or state endorsements can add 2 to 3 weeks. Mailed applications can take up to six weeks.

Order of filings

File the Certificate of Formation first. DOR requires an LLC to exist with the Secretary of State before it applies, and the application uses the LLC's UBI. Get your free EIN before you start, too.

City licenses

Most cities' general business licenses are endorsements you add on the same DOR application. Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Everett, and a few other cities license through FileLocal instead, so apply there separately if you are located in or work in one of them. Traveling into a city to work can require that city's non-resident endorsement.

Trade names

Your LLC's legal name is not a trade name. You only register one ($5) if you operate under a different name, such as "Rainier Design" for Smith Creative LLC.

If your gross income will stay under $12,000 and none of the other triggers apply, DOR doesn't require the license yet. The threshold is gross income, not profit. A freelancer billing $1,500 a month crosses it in the eighth month, so apply when you expect to cross it rather than after. The DOR Business Licensing Wizard lists every endorsement your business type needs, so you don't need to pay a service to figure that out.

Federal taxes

By default the IRS disregards a single-member LLC for income tax. Profit goes on your Schedule C and you pay self-employment tax on it, exactly as a sole proprietor does, until an S-corp election is worth the extra cost.

Washington taxes

No state income tax on your profit today. Once the LLC is registered with DOR, it owes B&O tax on gross receipts: 1.5% for most service businesses.

Public record

You are listed as the only governor on the Initial Report and every Annual Report, so your name is public.

Workers' comp

Members of a member-managed LLC are exempt from mandatory Washington workers' comp coverage, the same as sole proprietors. Coverage becomes mandatory for any employees you hire.

Operating agreement

Washington doesn't require one. We recommend a short one anyway. It shows the LLC is a separate business from you if anyone challenges your liability protection, and banks often ask for it.

EIN

The IRS does not require an EIN for a single-member LLC with no employees. Get one anyway: it is free, most banks want one for the LLC account, and it keeps your Social Security number off client W-9s.

Is it worth it over staying a sole proprietor? In Washington, a single-member LLC costs $200 up front and $70 a year. It separates business debts and lawsuits from your personal assets; it doesn't lower your taxes. If you have clients who could sue you, sign a commercial lease, or hold inventory, $70 a year is cheap protection. If you're testing a side project with no real liability, you can wait.

Cheapest complete path

File the Certificate yourself with the Initial Report included for $0, be your own registered agent if you have a Washington street address, write your own operating agreement, and get your EIN free from the IRS. Total: $180 by mail or $200 online. The extra $20 online is worth it; mailed filings are slower and more often returned.

Actually free

The Initial Report when filed with the certificate, the EIN, serving as your own registered agent, and changing your registered agent later.

Not free

The $70 Annual Report every year, the $50 DOR business license processing fee once you need a license, and B&O tax on gross receipts.

"$0" formation services

Bizee and ZenBusiness advertise $0 plus the state fee, so you pay the $200 either way. Bizee includes the first year of registered agent service, then charges $149 a year. ZenBusiness's $0 Starter plan has no registered agent; adding one costs $99 the first year, then $199 a year.

If you can be at a Washington street address during business hours and don't mind that address on the public record, filing yourself online for $200 is the path we recommend, and the CCFS form is manageable on your own. If you want your home address off the registered agent line, a service that bundles the first year of registered agent service costs little more than the state fee in year one. The real cost is the renewal, so compare that number, not the headline.

Always public

The LLC's name and UBI, the registered agent's name and address, the principal office address, the executor's name and address on the Certificate of Formation, and the governors' names on each report.

Registered agent line

A commercial registered agent puts its Washington address on this line instead of yours. Being your own agent puts your street address here.

Principal office line

This is where a home address most often leaks. It must be a physical street address where the LLC keeps its records, not a PO box or private mailbox. It can be an office or shared workspace you actually use, and it does not have to be in Washington.

Executor line

The executor is whoever signs the Certificate of Formation. If a formation service prepares and signs it, the service's details can appear there instead of yours. Your name still appears as a governor.

Holding-company setups

Some services sell an out-of-state LLC, often in Wyoming or New Mexico, to serve as your Washington LLC's governor. That means a second state's filing fee, annual fees, and registered agent every year. For a first-time solo founder, it is rarely worth it.

Address Confidentiality Program

If you're enrolled in Washington's Address Confidentiality Program, which serves eligible participants such as survivors of domestic violence and stalking, CCFS lets you enter your participant number instead of your address.

For most home-based founders, the realistic goal is keeping your home address off the record, not hiding your name. A commercial registered agent plus a non-home principal office does that. Domestic Washington LLCs also don't file FinCEN BOI reports, so there is no federal ownership filing to add to the list.

Who can own it

Only people licensed to provide the same professional service, or certain professional companies owned by them. An unlicensed partner or investor cannot be a member.

Name

Must include "Professional Limited Liability Company," "PLLC," or "P.L.L.C." A dental PLLC must include the full names or surnames of all members.

Filing and fees

Same $180 filing fee ($200 online) using the Certificate of Formation for a Professional LLC, the same Initial Report, and the same $70 Annual Report.

Insurance requirement

If members must be licensed, the PLLC must carry professional liability insurance, a bond, or similar coverage of at least $1 million, or more if the Insurance Commissioner sets a higher amount for your profession. Without it, members are personally liable for what that coverage would have paid.

What it does not protect

A PLLC does not shield you from liability for your own professional mistakes or those of people you directly supervise. It protects your personal assets from the company's general debts.

Taxes work like a regular LLC: a single-member PLLC is disregarded by default, and B&O tax applies to gross receipts at the service rate. If your profession is on the statute's list, file the Professional LLC version of the Certificate from the start. If you're not sure whether your license counts, ask your licensing board before you file. The board enforces who can practice through which kind of entity.

1. Form the LLC

File the Certificate of Formation on CCFS. When it asks for a UBI, choose No. The Secretary of State says not to enter a sole proprietorship's UBI; the LLC gets a new one.

2. Get an EIN for the LLC

Apply for a new EIN in the LLC's name. It is free from the IRS, and your bank will want one that matches the LLC.

3. Apply for a new business license

Submit a new Business License Application for the LLC ($50). DOR treats a change in structure the same as starting a new business. Reapply for every city and state endorsement the old license carried.

4. Reapply for trade licenses

Licenses from other agencies belong to the old business too. DOR's own example: a building contractor has to re-register with Labor & Industries under the new structure.

5. Move the business over

Open an LLC bank account, send clients a new W-9 with the LLC's name and EIN, and move contracts, leases, and accounts into the LLC's name. If you'll keep using the old business name, register it as a trade name under the LLC.

6. Close the old account

Once the LLC's license is active, close the sole proprietorship's account in My DOR so you aren't still expected to file returns for it.

Time the switch for a clean break. An LLC that takes effect on the first day of a month or quarter keeps your DOR returns and books from splitting one period between two businesses. If you are close to year-end, January 1 is the cleanest date, and CCFS lets you set an effective date up to 90 days ahead.