How to form an LLC in Florida

Florida's the destination of a steady migration of founders leaving California, New York, and Illinois. Most of them, correctly, form their LLCs in Florida and not Delaware.

The filing, step by step

Florida's formation document is the Articles of Organization, filed through Sunbiz. You'll need:

• An entity name ending in "Limited Liability Company," "LLC," or "L.L.C." Check availability at the Sunbiz name search. Florida does not hold names outside of an active filing.
• A registered agent with a Florida street address. You can serve as your own agent if you have a Florida residence, but the address becomes part of the public record.
• A principal office address and a mailing address (may be out-of-state).
• At least one authorized person — member, manager, or representative — signing the articles.
• Member or manager addresses (listed in annual reports, not the initial articles).

Online filing costs $125 ($100 filing fee + $25 for the required registered agent designation). Processing is typically same-day to 48 hours for online submissions; paper filings take a week or two. There is no expedited option for online filings — they're already fast.

After you file

1. Get an EIN from the IRS online application. Free, same day.
2. Register with the Florida Department of Revenue at floridarevenue.com if you will collect sales tax, hire employees, or have reemployment tax obligations.
3. File the federal Beneficial Ownership Information report with FinCEN. Deadline windows have changed with litigation — check FinCEN before filing, but plan on the requirement applying.
4. Open a dedicated bank account. Commingling personal and LLC funds is the single fastest way to weaken the liability shield.
5. Draft an operating agreement. Florida does not require one and does not file it; the LLC Act gives you broad contractual freedom and the operating agreement is where you use it.

Ongoing compliance

Florida's annual report is $138.75 and is due by May 1 each year. Miss it and the late fee is a flat $400 — one of the harshest late penalties in the country. Miss it for a full year and Florida administratively dissolves the LLC. Put it on the calendar on the day you form.

Reminders come by email if you keep your contact info current with Sunbiz. They're reliable but only as reliable as the email address on file.

Tax, simply

Florida has no individual income tax. For a single-member LLC treated as a pass-through, this is the headline benefit: Florida takes no bite out of your business income at the state level. You still file federal taxes on Schedule C (or 1065/K-1 for multi-member), and you still pay the 15.3% self-employment tax.

Florida does impose a 5.5% corporate income tax on entities that elect C-Corp treatment, with an exemption on the first $50,000 of income. If you're running a high-margin operating company, the C-Corp election math depends on your personal effective rate — but default LLC treatment is right for most founders.

Florida's sales tax is 6% at the state level, with county surtaxes up to 1.5%. If you sell tangible goods or certain services, you need a sales tax account with Florida DOR.

When Florida is the wrong state

Two clear cases:

• You live and operate somewhere else. Forming in Florida when you live in New Jersey gives you Florida's filing fees and New Jersey's tax burden — New Jersey will still tax your pass-through income as a resident there, and you'll have to register as a foreign LLC in New Jersey anyway. Use your home state.
• You are raising institutional venture capital. Delaware remains the default. Form a Delaware C-Corp and register as a foreign entity in Florida.

For the typical case — a Florida resident starting a Florida business — Florida is one of the best states in the country in which to form. The combination of no state income tax, a functional filing portal, and predictable compliance is genuinely hard to beat.

Fees at a glance

Fees are from the Sunbiz fee schedule and current as of this writing.