How to Form a Nevada PLLC: Name, Filing, and EIN

To form a Nevada PLLC, licensed professionals file Articles of Organization with the Nevada Secretary of State along with a certificate from their licensing board, submit an Initial List of Managers or Members, and apply for a State Business License. The three filings together cost about $425. Every owner must hold an active license in the profession the entity will practice, and the company name must include at least one member’s last name.

Who Can Form a Nevada PLLC

Nevada limits PLLC ownership to people who perform services that legally require a license, certificate of registration, or other state authorization.¹ Medicine, law, accounting, architecture, and engineering are typical examples. Everyone who organizes the entity, and everyone who later joins as a member or manager, must hold the license to practice the profession the PLLC is formed for. Non-licensed individuals cannot hold any ownership interest or serve in a management role.

A PLLC is generally limited to one type of professional service, but Nevada allows three groups of related professions to combine under a single entity:²

Architecture, interior design, residential design, landscape architecture, and professional engineering, in any combination.
Medicine, homeopathy, osteopathy, naprapathy, chiropractic, and psychology, in any combination.
Psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, psychiatric nurses, marriage and family therapists, and licensed clinical professional counselors, in any combination.

Outside these groupings, the PLLC can only deliver the single service it was organized for. It may own property and make investments connected to its practice, but it cannot branch into unrelated commercial activities.

Choosing a Compliant Name

Nevada’s naming rules for a PLLC are stricter than for a standard LLC. The name must include either the full phrase “Professional Limited-Liability Company” or one of these abbreviations: “Prof. L.L.C.,” “Prof. LLC,” “P.L.L.C.,” “PLLC,” “Chartered,” “Chtd.,” “Limited,” or “Ltd.”³

Here is the requirement people most often miss: the name must also contain the last name of a current or former member.³ “Desert Wellness PLLC” would be rejected. “Martinez Desert Wellness PLLC” would be accepted. If you want a marketing name without a surname, the PLLC can register and operate under a fictitious business name once the formal entity exists. Check name availability through the Nevada Secretary of State’s online database before you file anything.

Filing the Articles of Organization

Formation begins with Articles of Organization filed with the Nevada Secretary of State. For a PLLC, the articles require more than the standard LLC paperwork. In addition to the entity’s name and registered agent information, they must include:⁴

A statement identifying the specific professional service the PLLC will provide.
The names and addresses of all original members and managers.
A certificate from the regulating board confirming that each member and manager who is a natural person holds an active license to practice the profession.

The licensing board certificate is the biggest procedural difference between forming a PLLC and forming a regular LLC. Contact your board before you file and request the certificate, since boards do not always issue them on short notice. If you are forming one of the multi-discipline PLLCs permitted under NRS 89.050, you will need a certificate from each applicable board.

The Full Filing Package and Fees

Along with the Articles of Organization, Nevada requires two more filings at startup. The Initial List of Managers or Members costs $150.⁵ The State Business License application costs $200.⁶ Combined with the articles filing fee, expect to pay roughly $425 to get everything on file. Most filings can be processed online through the Secretary of State’s SilverFlume portal.

Registered Agent

Every Nevada PLLC must designate a registered agent with a street address inside the state.⁷ The agent receives legal documents and official correspondence on behalf of the company. The agent can be a member of the PLLC, another Nevada resident, or a commercial registered agent service. If the PLLC loses its registered agent and fails to replace them, the state can administratively dissolve the entity.

Operating Agreement

Nevada does not require a written operating agreement, but skipping one is a mistake for any PLLC with more than one member. The agreement defines ownership percentages, how profits are split, voting procedures, how new members are admitted, and what happens when a member leaves or loses their license. Without it, you default to the state’s generic rules, which rarely reflect what the members actually intended. Even for a single-member PLLC, an operating agreement documents the separation between you and the entity, which helps preserve the liability shield.

Getting an EIN

Before the PLLC can open a bank account, hire employees, or file tax returns, it needs an Employer Identification Number from the IRS. You can apply online at irs.gov at no cost and receive the number immediately.⁸ By default, the IRS treats a single-member PLLC as a disregarded entity and a multi-member PLLC as a partnership, so profits pass through to the members’ individual returns. Nevada has no state income tax.

What the PLLC Shield Actually Protects

The liability protection a PLLC provides is real but narrower than people often assume. Nevada law preserves the professional relationship between a practitioner and a client, including all liability that flows from that relationship. Forming a PLLC does not insulate anyone from their own malpractice.⁹

The structure helps by separating one member’s mistakes from the others’ exposure. A member or employee is not personally liable in tort for an act they did not personally participate in, and is not personally liable in contract for agreements signed on behalf of the entity within the scope of their actual authority.⁹ If one doctor in a medical PLLC commits malpractice, the other doctors’ personal assets are generally protected from that claim, provided they had no involvement. The PLLC also shields members from the entity’s general business debts, like lease obligations or vendor bills, the same way a standard LLC does. Commingling personal and business funds, or treating the PLLC casually, gives courts grounds to pierce the veil, so clean books matter.

Staying in Good Standing

Two annual filings keep the PLLC alive, both due by the last day of the month the entity was originally formed in. You must file an Annual List of Managers or Members with the Secretary of State for $150,⁵ and renew the State Business License for $200.⁶ Miss these and the PLLC goes into default. If the default continues for a full year past the due date, the charter is revoked and the entity loses its right to do business.¹⁰

Each member also has to keep their professional license current with the relevant board. If a member becomes legally disqualified from practicing, they must sever their professional duties and financial interest in the PLLC within a reasonable period, or the entity’s charter can be forfeited.¹¹ This is one more reason the operating agreement matters: it should define how a departing member’s interest is valued, how fast the buyout happens, and who enforces the separation.

Changes to the PLLC’s name, registered agent, or management structure must be reported to the Secretary of State through amendment filings. Keeping internal records like meeting minutes and financial statements helps show that the PLLC operates as a genuine separate entity, which strengthens the liability shield if it is ever tested.

1
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code NRS 89.020 – Definitions
2
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code NRS 89.050 – Scope of Business, Property and Investments, Professional Services by Officers and Employees
3
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code NRS 89.040 – Filing Requirements, Required Provisions of Articles, Name
4
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes NRS 89.040 – Filing Requirements, Required Provisions of Articles, Name
5
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code NRS 86.263 – Filing Requirements, Fees, Notice, Regulations
6
Nevada Secretary of State. State Business License FAQ
7
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Code NRS 86.231 – Registered Agent Required, Address of Registered Office
8
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form SS-4 – Application for Employer Identification Number
9
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes NRS 89.060 – Professional Relationship Preserved
10
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes NRS 86.263 – Filing Requirements, Default and Revocation
11
Nevada Legislature. Nevada Revised Statutes NRS 89.080 – Duties Upon Legal Disqualification