How to Form a PLLC in Illinois: Filing, IDFPR, and Compliance

To form a PLLC in Illinois, you file Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State for $150, then apply for a certificate of registration from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) for $50. You cannot legally operate until both agencies have signed off, and every member who delivers professional services must hold a current Illinois license before IDFPR will issue the certificate.

Two statutes govern the process together: the Professional Limited Liability Company Act (805 ILCS 185) and the broader Limited Liability Company Act (805 ILCS 180). The steps below walk through what each agency wants, in the order you should do it.

Step 1: File Articles of Organization With the Secretary of State

Start with the Illinois Secretary of State. The filing fee is $150, and you can pay an optional $100 expedite fee for faster processing.¹

Your Articles must include everything the LLC Act normally requires, plus one item specific to PLLCs: a statement of the specific professional service or related services the company will render.² A generic purpose clause will not do. A dental PLLC has to say it is a dental PLLC.

Naming the Company

The name must include “Professional Limited Liability Company,” “P.L.L.C.,” or “PLLC.”² It also has to be distinguishable from other entities already on file. Run the name through the Secretary of State’s business name database before you file.

Designating a Registered Agent

Every Illinois PLLC must maintain a registered agent with a physical street address in the state. The agent receives legal documents, government notices, and service of process for the company. A member can serve in this role, or you can retain a commercial registered agent service, which typically runs between $35 and $350 per year depending on the provider and service level. The agent’s name and address appear both in your Articles of Organization and on the IDFPR application that comes next.

Step 2: Get a Certificate of Registration From IDFPR

Once the Secretary of State approves your Articles, you cannot open for business until IDFPR issues a certificate of registration. The application asks for the PLLC’s name and mailing address, the registered agent’s name and address, the practice location, any assumed names, and a copy of the filed Articles.³ The fee is $50 and is nonrefundable.⁴

Before issuing the certificate, IDFPR verifies that every organizer, manager, and member holds a current Illinois professional license and has no pending disciplinary action.³ This is the check that separates a PLLC from a standard LLC. If a single member’s credentials don’t clear, the certificate won’t issue.

Who Can Be a Member

A PLLC can only deliver services that require a license issued by IDFPR. The statute allows a single profession or a cluster of related professions. Common examples include medicine, dentistry, accounting, architecture, engineering, and various therapy practices. Where the Act requires it, every organizer, manager, and member must be licensed in that profession or a related one. One narrow exception exists at formation: an initial organizer may be a licensed attorney even if the PLLC will offer non-legal professional services.³

Attorneys forming a law-practice entity are a special case. The Illinois Supreme Court has exclusive authority over the practice of law, and the LLC Act defers to the Court’s rules for law-practice LLCs.⁵ Lawyers should read the Rules of Professional Conduct and any applicable administrative orders alongside the PLLC Act.

Get a Federal EIN

You need an Employer Identification Number from the IRS before opening a bank account, filing taxes, or hiring employees. Apply online using Form SS-4; the IRS issues EINs immediately through its online portal at no cost. If the person responsible for the PLLC’s tax matters changes later, notify the IRS within 60 days using Form 8822-B.⁶

Draft an Operating Agreement

An operating agreement is the internal rulebook. It sets ownership percentages, profit distribution, voting rights, procedures for admitting or removing members, and how the company winds down. Illinois law gives operating agreements heavy deference; the LLC Act’s stated policy is to give “maximum effect to the principles of freedom of contract” in these documents.⁵

You do not file the operating agreement with the state, and Illinois does not technically require one. Skipping it is still one of the most common mistakes new PLLCs make. Without an agreement, disputes over money and authority get resolved by statutory default rules that may not match what the members actually intended.

One provision worth writing in from day one: what happens if a member loses their license. If any member, manager, or employee has a professional license suspended or revoked, the PLLC must remove that person promptly. Failure to do so gives IDFPR authority to suspend or revoke the company’s certificate of registration.² A single member’s disciplinary problem can put the entire company at risk. The agreement should spell out how the departing member’s interest is valued, how fast the buyout occurs, and who has authority to act.

What Formation Does Not Do

The PLLC shields members from personal liability for the company’s general business debts and contractual obligations, the same way a standard LLC does. It does not shield you from your own malpractice. Every member, manager, agent, or employee remains personally and fully liable for their own negligent or wrongful acts while delivering professional services, including the acts of anyone under their direct supervision. The PLLC itself is also liable, up to its full property value, for malpractice committed by its professionals on the company’s behalf.² Joining a PLLC also does not change any member’s accountability to their licensing board.³ Professional liability insurance covers the gap the PLLC structure leaves open.

Keep the PLLC in Good Standing

Formation is only the first bill. Two recurring filings keep the company alive, and they run on different clocks with different agencies.

Annual Report to the Secretary of State

Every Illinois PLLC must file an annual report with the Secretary of State by the anniversary of its formation date. The fee is $75.¹ The report updates basic information such as your registered agent, principal office address, and member or manager names. Miss the deadline and the company can be administratively dissolved, which strips its legal authority to do business.

Triennial IDFPR Renewal

Your IDFPR certificate of registration expires on January 1 of every third year. The renewal fee is $40. A separate application is required for each business location and for each assumed name that operates from a different address than the parent company.³ The annual report and the IDFPR renewal are two different obligations on two different schedules; treating them as one is a common way to lapse.

Individual License Maintenance

Each member independently keeps their professional license current, including any continuing education their licensing board requires. Company-level compliance does not substitute for individual compliance, and IDFPR audits both.

1
Illinois Secretary of State. Limited Liability Company Publications and Forms
2
Illinois General Assembly. Professional Limited Liability Company Act
3
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 805 ILCS 185/15
4
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Professional Limited Liability Company New Application Checklist
5
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Limited Liability Company Act
6
Internal Revenue Service. About Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number (EIN)