How to Start an LLC in Kansas: If you’re looking to start an LLC in Kansas, you’ve come to the right page. Setting up an LLC is easy and cost-effective. To form an LLC, you must follow a few steps that include naming your LLC, hiring a registered agent, filing your formation documents, doing the operating agreement, and finally obtaining the EIN. You can easily set up your LLC at a very low cost in Kansas. Though, you must pay the mandatory state filing fee. These fees and charges can be tax deductible, making the LLC formation cost almost negligible.
On this page, You’ll find all the steps that must be taken to ensure that your Kansas LLC has been correctly formed. We recommend you read the whole article very carefully, word by word, don’t miss anything 🙂
How to Start an LLC in Kansas
An LLC (aka Limited Liability Company) is a hybrid business entity combining a corporation’s characteristics with a partnership or sole proprietorship. It separates your personal assets from your business assets, thus giving you personal asset protection. For an LLC, members’ personal assets are not affected by business debts. However, in some cases, if the LLC is sued for business debts, courts might pierce the corporate veil and use the owner’s personal assets to meet their corporate liabilities.
If you wish to start an LLC in Kansas, you must file your Articles of Organization with the State and pay a filing fee of $160. While it’s the most important step, it’s not the only one. There are 4 other crucial steps to follow to get your LLC formed in Kansas. Below are all 5 steps that explain everything you need to do to start a Kansas LLC in 2024. Let’s get started! You can always hire a professional LLC formation service in Kansas to set up your LLC instead of doing it alone; a Pro service will ensure everything is done properly.
Step 1: Decide a Name for Your Kansas LLC
The first step while forming a limited liability company in Kansas is to give a proper name to your LLC. Before you name your business, you must know that the name should be easy to remember, available in the state, and follows all the LLC naming guidelines.
Kansas LLC Naming Guidelines
There are a few specific requirements all the LLCs in Kansas have to follow while naming their Company. Some of the most important requirements are as follows:
- Your business name should be available and no other existing business in Kansas can have the same name. ZenBusiness offers unlimited business name searches without any hassle.
- “Limited Liability Company”, “LLC”, and “L.L.C.” – any one of these has to be used as a suffix in your business name.
- You cannot use any name for your business that is confusing or misleading. Terms such as “Treasury”, “State Department”, “FBI”, “CIA”, etc. shouldn’t be included.
- Terms like “Bank“, “University“, “Attorney“, “Doctor“, etc can be added only after the additional requirements by Kansas State Government are fulfilled.
- (Optional) It’s better to name your business something for which your desired domain is available.
Important Links – | Submit Offline Form to – |
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Kansas Business Entity Search – Online Search Name Reservation Form – PDF Name Availability Standards – Guidelines Kansas LLC Name Search – Instructions | Kansas Office of the Secretary of State Memorial Hall, 1st Floor 120 S.W. 10th Avenue Topeka, KS 66612-1594 |
Reserve Business Name for Future
If you do not wish to file your LLC right now but want to hold the name you have decided on, then you can reserve your LLC name for 120 days. To keep the name, you must file a name reservation application and pay $30 (online) & $35 (by mail) to reserve your name with the Kansas Secretary of State.
Doing Business As (DBA) or Trade Name
In Kansas, there is no mandatory or formal rule to register your Tarde Name or DBA. If anyone wishes to file a DBA in Kansas, they need to do it through a local body.
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Apart from LLC formation, ZenBusiness offers customized website templates and business emails at a very reasonable price. If you plan to get a website, then it is wise to have a “.com” domain for your business, but these days you can also use other TLDs like “.io”, “.company”, “.xyz,” etc. Here you can get everything you need for your business in one dashboard.
It is not legally mandatory to use the word LLC in your domain name or email. If you want, you can use it. However, it is recommended not to use LLC in the domain name. A domain name should be short and easy to remember.
Step 2: Assign a Resident Agent in Kansas
The second step to forming an LLC in Kansas is to appoint a Resident Agent (also known as a registered agent in most states). A Resident Agent is a person or business entity working on your LLC’s behalf. This person or business will receive important tax forms, legal documents, all notices of lawsuits, and other official government correspondence in Kansas. Hence, hiring a competent Kansas Resident Agent for your LLC is necessary.
Make sure your registered agent is a resident of Kansas or has a physical street address. This address will be used as the principal address of your LLC to receive any legal documents. Most LLC formation companies also provide registered agent services. Below are two great LLC formation services; even if you buy their cheapest plan (normally $49/year), you also get registered agent service and other services at a very reasonable price.
These two are our top recommendations for registered agent service, as they are competent and authorized to conduct business in Kansas. Some LLC formation services also offer standalone Kansas registered agent services. You can purchase only Registered Agent services without purchasing any other LLC formation services. This standalone service might become handy if you are doing it yourself and don’t want to disclose your home address or you don’t want to pierce the corporate veil.
A person above 18 years of age and has a physical address in the state of Kansas can be a Registered Agent. A Registered Agent can be an independent person or can be a business entity. One is responsible for handling all the legal documents on the LLCs behalf.
Yes, you can be your own registered agent if you are a resident of the state of Kansas and you are above 18 years of age. To become a registered agent, you must have the authority to conduct any type of business in Kansas.
There are a few reasons why you shouldn’t be your own registered agent. The address of the registered agent is used to communicate with the SOS or for any legal activities. If you are your own registered agent, you might have to upload your personal address to the public forum. Besides, the registered agent must be at the address during business hours. It won’t be easy for you as you also have to take care of other things in your LLC. Hence, it is wiser to appoint a separate entity as your registered agent.
If an LLC is sued in Kansas, in some cases, courts might decide to lift the corporate veil, which means the owners of the LLC will be personally liable for their business debts. They might have to forgo their personal assets to repay their business debts. This is called piercing the corporate veil, where personal and business assets are not separated anymore. Your personal assets can be protected if you have enough capital and all your LLC documents are properly filed.
Step 3: File Articles of Organization in Kansas
The third and most important step in forming a Kansas LLC is to file the Articles of Organization. This Kansas Articles of Organization is a legal document needed to officially register your business with the Secretary of State. It costs $165 (by mail and $160 online) to file your formation certificate in Kansas.
The Articles of Organization include details like the name of the LLC, the registered agent’s name, address, employees’ details, and the company’s structure (member-managed or manager-managed). Before hiring employees in Kansas LLC, one should know about the rules and regulations thoroughly. Also if you are expanding your existing business (an LLC) in other states to Kansas, you must register as a Kansas Foreign LLC.
How to File Online
Go to the Secretary of State Online Service. You will get the online service page. If you are already a subscriber then click on the “log in to Subscribe Account” option and log in with your credentials. If you’re not subscribed, then you need to register to start filing your LLC by clicking on the “Online Filing” button below. Read more about the Kansas Articles of Organization for online registration.
Processing Time: Normally, it takes around 2 business days (approx) to get your LLC formed in Kansas. The processing time for online filing might be a little faster than offline filing. With an additional cost, you can get expedited filing as well. However, the document processing time can be changed due to various factors.
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Every LLC owner has to pay the filing fees to register their business in Kansas. This fee is mandatory but also tax deductible. If you’re doing it yourself (filing on your own), it will not cost you any additional service fee. However, it is not feasible to do that as the DIY process might be delayed, complicated, and messy, especially if you’re a novice entrepreneur. Hence, it is recommended to get professional guidance to get your LLC formed in Kansas.
Step 4: Create Your Kansas LLC Operating Agreement
Moving on to the fourth step, filing your operating agreement. An operating agreement is a document that legally outlines the proprietorship and operating procedures of your LLC. This document is vital as it ensures that all business owners are on the same page regarding how they operate, thus reducing future conflicts.
When it comes to filing a Kansas LLC Operating Agreement, the state does not require you to have a comprehensive operating agreement, but it is ideal to have one that contains all the details of your business operation that helps in taking future business decisions, especially if you decide to dissolve Kansas LLC later. Hence, having an operating agreement may not be necessary but it is surely ideal.
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The operating agreement draft can be created for free if you don’t hire a professional. However, there is an advantage to appointing a proficient person/service. You will get a businesslike quality operating agreement at a very cheap fee, which will help you in the future. Hiring a professional service means you can sleep well at night 🙂
Step 5: Filing a Kansas LLC EIN
The Employer Identification Number (aka EIN) is a nine-digit number given by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to make it easier to identify the type of business for tax purposes and taxes in general. The EIN is necessary for any active business or any form of business.
EIN in Kansas is needed when the LLC hires employees. Hiring employees in Kansas LLC requires following specific rules and regulations. On the other side, EIN for Kansas foreign LLC should be obtained if your LLC is based in other states.
To obtain EIN (aka FEIN), one must fill up a form (Online or by mail) and submit it to the IRS. Enter details of your LLC, and finally complete the form and send it to the address given. You can also get an EIN Assistant who can help you with the process.
Mail to: Internal Revenue Service, Attn: EIN Operation, Cincinnati, OH 45999
Fax: (855) 641-6935 | Fee: Free
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Note: You don’t need a Social Security number when getting an EIN. You can proceed to fill out I.R.S. Form SS-4 and leave section 7b blank. You must then call the IRS at (267) 941-1099 to complete your application. Agents or employees will help you with that.
Congratulations, you are now done with all the necessary steps to form your Limited Liability Company in Kansas. If you do it yourself, it should take you a long time to understand and do all the steps properly.
However, if you use ZenBusiness, it should be way faster. You will always have a live chat option and phone support with experts for any help you need. Their worry-free service will make things easier for you.
After Starting Your Kansas LLC
After forming your LLC, there are still some things that you will need. The most important thing is to separate your business and personal assets. LLCs have limited liability protection that protects your personal assets from business liability. This is called a corporate veil. However, the corporate veil can be lifted or pierced by the court if the LLC is sued. In that case, the owners of the LLC become personally liable for their corporate debts. A few things like appointing a legit registered agent, having enough capital, and filing all the major documents with the state can save the LLCs from being pierced into the corporate veil.
BOI Report Filing
According to the Corporate Transparency Act, every LLC, corporation, and other type of business that is registered with the Kansas SOS or similar authority, must file the BOI report with FinCEN. From January 1, 2024, it is mandatory to file a BOI report for every business entity. In this report, LLCs have to share information about the beneficial owners (having equal or more than 25% share). LLC owners can file BOI reports online or offline.
LLCs in Kansas that are created before January 1, 2024, should file their BOI report by January 1, 2025. LLCs that are created in 2024, must file the BOI report within 90 business days of finishing the LLC formation process. Missing out on filing the BOI report may lead to a monetary penalty of $500/day.
Apart from that, there are a few things you need to take note of,
- Get a company business bank account
- File Kansas business permits & licenses
- Get general liability insurance and professional liability insurance with coverage for employees.
- File a Kansas LLC annual report or biennial report
This page has provided you with steps to LLC formation and filing processes. You now have to remember upcoming filing deadlines and filing fees or filing costs, including fees for late filings to make sure your LLC is up-to-date.
The LLC formation processing time in Kansas is 2-3 business days if filing offline (by mail). The process starts immediately if filed online. Check how long it takes to form an LLC to know about the tentative timelines.
Cost of Kansas LLC
LLCs can be formed by spending less price. Apart from the mandatory state filing fees, you don’t have to bear additional service charges if you do it yourself. Following are the fees and taxes LLCs in Kansas must pay to register and run a business in the state. Forming an LLC is no doubt cost-effective compared to other business structures. However, the fees and charges (tax-deductible) that you must pay to the state, such as name reservation fee, name filing fee, LLC filing fee, and Franchise Tax & Sales Tax (If applicable). Here are the main fees and taxes you must pay while forming your limited liability company in Kansas,
Fees/Tax | Amount to be Paid |
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Name Reservation Fee (online) | $30 |
Name Reservation Fee (By mail) | $35 |
Articles of Organization Fee | $165 (by mail and $160 online) |
LLC Biennial Fee (online) | $50 |
LLC Biennial Fee (by mail) | $55 |
Sales Tax | 6.5% |
In Kansas, an LLC name reservation is mandatory and should be done at least 2 weeks before your LLC registration. You can register your LLC name at the time of registering your LLC. If you wish to hold the name for some time without registering your LLC, then you can do that online. Your LLC name will be reserved for 1 year without registering your LLC. It can be renewed by paying $25.
In Kansas, a Biennial Report has to be produced every 2 years. It costs $50. Also, the State of Kansas requires to pay a Sales Tax of 6.5%. Read our guide on LLC costs in Kansas for more information.
Kansas Foreign LLC
If you are interested in forming a Foreign LLC in Kansas then you need to file the Certificate of Foreign LLC to the Kansas Secretary of State. Foreign LLCs allow you to operate your business in more than one state. Along with the Certificate of Foreign LLC, you need to submit some more documents like the Certificate of Good Standing, etc. to the Kansas SOS to form your foreign LLC in Kansas. To know more in detail, check out our guide on Kansas Foreign LLC.
Reasons to Start an LLC in Kansas
The primary reason for having an LLC in Kansas is its economic structure. However, around 45% contribution in GDP comes from agriculture in the state. But there are oil, gas, manufacturing units, and other industries that help in economic growth. An LLC in Kansas can receive various business funding options. Depending on the viable business structure, LLCs will receive the line of credit. Any business can opt for a business credit card to differentiate their personal and professional spending.
Along with a strong economic structure, there are some other long-lasting benefits of starting a Kansas LLC. In general, the processing of business forms, or any legal forms takes much lesser time. If you opt for a registered agent service then it would be even easier to in tax filing and other procedural steps.
Freedom in Distribution of Profit
Unlike a partnership, in Kansas, LLCs have the freedom to decide the distribution of profit among the partners. In the case of a partnership, the distribution is always 50-50. However, in setting up an LLC, it can be anything per the members’ contribution to the business.
Business Incentives & Tax Benefits
Like many other states in the United States, the Kansas government also provides incentives to small businesses. There are different types of incentives and tax credits one can expect while forming an LLC in Kansas. In the case of business incentives, LLCs can receive up to $500,000 as financial assistance. It can go up depending on the criteria and forms of business. Read more on Kansas’ classification of LLC tax.
State Small Business Credit Initiatives
Under this program, the new businesses will get financial assistance starting from $25,000 to $500,000. Once your LLC gets qualified for the program, any amount between these will be provided to you.
Economic Development Grants
Under this program, an LLC can receive up to $750,000 and a minimum of $35,000. In this program, if the LLCs can create job opportunities in the state through their investment, then they can receive this assistance.
Foreign Trade Zones and Benefits
There are some specific locations in Kansas considered as Foreign Trade Zones. If any new business sets up an LLC in such zones, then ut can enjoy the benefits of FTZ. LLCs will get to operate in such areas without paying any duty. There will be a quota but no prominent tax to be paid for operating in FTZ.
Top Businesses in Kansas
When you want to form an LLC in Kansas, you should know what Kansas is known for? Top business industries that are established in the state of Kansas are discussed below.
Resource Mining
It is noticed that the state of Kansas has huge farmland with extensive resources of minerals present in it. The state has topped in the production of minerals in which helium is the leading example. Also, the state is the leading producer of coal, in which the bituminous coal is present in the maximum amount.
Advanced Manufacturing
Kansas is the state that is house to many advanced industries. The biggest one is the Aerospace and Transportation equipment which contributes around $6,802 million to the state economy. After that comes the Food and tobacco-based production that contributes around 4,602 million dollars which is enormous for Kansas state.
These are the leading contributions followed by various small and large-sized contributions from the manufacturing sector, including fabricated metal, motor vehicles, printing, and related support activities, etc.
Corporate services
It is noticed that there are more than 60,000 companies present in the state that are providing corporate and professional services. The reason behind such a vast number is people who are involved in professional courses that are producing more than 7.000 or more graduates in a year. The corporate services may include accounting, legal services, financial service providers, and much more.
Agriculture
The agriculture sector is becoming the most significant contributor of the state, which has also grown to a 4.8 million dollar export industry. The state is also number 1 in the production of wheat and sorghum, which is the staple food of most countries. Moreover, the dairy sector is also growing as a golden sector of the state with plenty of prospects.
Some of the small investment businesses in Kansas are:-
- Tutor services
- Food processing
- Animal healthcare business
Kansas LLC Formation Review
Time needed: 5 minutes
Just to recap, here are the easy steps again when forming an LLC in Kansas. Click on the steps in this list to read the full detail.
- Name your Kansas LLC
The first thing you must do is to choose a company name, which should be unique, easy to find, and available in the state.
- Choose a Registered Agent
In Kansas, it is mandatory to select a registered agent for your LLC. Get a professional Registered Agent from LLC formation services to get things done hassle-free.
- File a Formation Certificate
Filing a formation certificate is necessary when forming an LLC in Kansas. Depending on the state, it could be called any of the following: Certificate of Formation, Articles of Organization, or Certificate of Organization.
- Create an Operating Agreement
An operating agreement is not a strict requirement in Kansas but something encouraged when you start an LLC to avoid future conflicts.
- Get an EIN
The Employer Identification Number (EIN), also called Federal Tax Identification Number, serves to identify a business entity like a social security number but for a company.
F.A.Qs
If you are a resident of Kansas, then you can file your LLC by yourself. However, it is always worth having a professional than doing it yourself to handle legal complexities, paperwork, and other documentation.
Apart from the formation fee of $160 (domestic LLC) and $165 (foreign LLC), LLC costs in Kansas include $50 for Annual Reports every year. LLCs are liable to pay sales tax of 6.5% every year.
It takes no time to get a Kansas LLC if you file it online. For the mail filing, it takes 2 business days to get an LLC. If you hire a professional LLC service, then it might take less than that. We recommend TailorBrands which has impeccable turnaround time.
Every year all the LLCs have to submit an Annual Report and pay $50 to the Kansas Secretary of State and renew the LLC. It is mandatory to renew your LLC every year.
Generally, for the LLCs, it is a default tax structure. Once you will obtain the EIN, you will get the various tax structure options to select. Sometimes LLCs choose S Corp to reduce federal tax burdens. Read more on the Kansas Classification of LLC Tax.
In Conclusion
When it comes to forming an LLC in Kansas, it is much simpler than other business structures. In Kansas, starting a small business or a start-up is easy because of its diverse resources. For small budget holders, forming a limited liability company is desirable. The steps explained in this article are generic steps for starting a business in Kansas. It is recommended to consult an attorney or service provider.
In Kansas, while establishing an LLC, make sure you check with the local bodies like the city council and district office to get updated with local regulations. We recommend ZenBusiness, one of the best LLC services that offers LLC formation at $0 (+ state filing fees). Hiring a professional service would make things easier. From having a registered agent to complying with the local and state government, everything will be smoother than doing things all by yourself.