To start a small business in Missouri, you choose a legal structure, register the entity with the Secretary of State (if the structure requires it), get a federal tax ID, register with the Missouri Department of Revenue, and handle any local or professional licenses that apply to your work. An online LLC filing costs $50 and typically clears in one to two business days. Most of the work is what comes after formation: an operating agreement, tax accounts, employer registrations, and the ongoing filings that keep your entity in good standing.
Pick a Structure First
Your structure decides your personal liability, how you file taxes, and how much paperwork the state wants from you each year.
- Sole proprietorship. You and the business are the same legal person. No state formation filing. No liability shield either, so a lawsuit against the business reaches your personal assets.
- General partnership. Two or more owners sharing profits and liability. No formal filing required to create one, and each partner is personally liable for business debts.
- Limited Liability Company. The common choice for small businesses. You file Articles of Organization, and in return your personal assets are shielded from business liabilities. Flexible management, flexible tax treatment.
- Corporation. More formal: a board, officers, and governance rules. You file Articles of Incorporation. Corporations fit when you expect outside investment.
LLCs and corporations can elect different federal tax treatment. By default, a single-member LLC is taxed like a sole proprietorship and a multi-member LLC like a partnership, but either can file IRS Form 2553 to be taxed as an S-corporation. That election has to be made within two months and 15 days of starting operations to apply to the first tax year. C-corporations file Form 1120; S-corporations file Form 1120-S.1Internal Revenue Service. Forms for Corporations
Name the Business and Appoint a Registered Agent
Your name must be distinguishable from every other business already on file with the Secretary of State. Search the state’s online database before you file; a conflict gets your filing rejected. An LLC’s name must include “Limited Liability Company,” “Limited Company,” or an abbreviation like “LLC” or “LC.” A corporation’s name must include “Corporation,” “Incorporated,” “Company,” or an abbreviation like “Corp.” or “Inc.” Those suffixes alone won’t make two otherwise identical names distinguishable, so pick something distinctive beyond the ending.
Every Missouri LLC and corporation also needs a registered agent to accept lawsuits and official correspondence on the entity’s behalf.2Missouri Secretary of State. Other Filings Required of General Business Corporations The agent can be a Missouri resident or a corporation authorized to do business in Missouri. The agent’s office must match the entity’s registered office, and that office must be a physical Missouri street address where someone can be served. A PO Box works only alongside a physical street address in the same city, and commercial mail-receiving stores like The UPS Store or Mailboxes Etc. do not qualify.3Missouri Secretary of State. Frequently Asked Questions
You can serve as your own registered agent for free, as long as you’re available at that address during business hours. Commercial agents handle it for roughly $119 to $250 per year.
File With the Secretary of State
LLCs file Articles of Organization. Corporations file Articles of Incorporation. Both forms live on the Secretary of State’s website and can be submitted through the online portal or mailed to the Corporations Division in Jefferson City. Online is faster and cheaper.
LLC fees are $50 online or $105 on paper. Corporation fees start at $58 online for authorized capital of $30,000 or less and rise from there with higher authorized capital. These include the certificate charge and a $5 technology fund surcharge.4Missouri Secretary of State. Schedule of Fees and Charges Online filings typically process within one to two business days; paper takes longer.
What LLC Articles of Organization Must Include
Missouri’s LLC statute requires six items:5Missouri Revisor of Statutes. RSMo Section 347.039
- The business name, including the required LLC designation.
- The purpose, which can be broad language like “any lawful business.”
- The registered office street address and the registered agent’s name.
- Whether the LLC will be member-managed or manager-managed.
- The duration, which can be perpetual.3Missouri Secretary of State. Frequently Asked Questions
- The name and physical address of each organizer. The organizer doesn’t have to be a member or manager.
What Corporation Articles of Incorporation Must Include
Corporations have similar but slightly different requirements. The Articles must state a purpose, the number and type of authorized shares, and details about the initial board of directors.6Missouri Revisor of Statutes. RSMo Section 351.055 The incorporator must be a natural person at least 18 years old.3Missouri Secretary of State. Frequently Asked Questions The registered office rule is the same as for LLCs: a physical Missouri street address.7Missouri Revisor of Statutes. RSMo Section 351.370
Once approved, you receive a certificate confirming the entity legally exists.
Write an Operating Agreement if You Formed an LLC
Missouri is unusual on this point: the LLC statute says members “shall adopt” an operating agreement, so it’s mandatory, not optional.8Missouri Revisor of Statutes. RSMo Section 347.081 You don’t file it with the state, but you need one in place.
Without an operating agreement, state default rules govern how your LLC runs, and those defaults rarely match what the members actually want. An operating agreement sets ownership percentages, profit shares, voting rights, exit rules, and how disputes get resolved.9U.S. Small Business Administration. Basic Information About Operating Agreements It also helps defend the liability shield. Courts are more willing to “pierce the veil” and hold owners personally liable when a company skips basic formalities, and having no operating agreement is exhibit A.
Get an EIN and Register for Missouri Taxes
Almost every business entity needs a federal Employer Identification Number from the IRS. You’ll use the nine-digit number for tax filings, opening a bank account, and hiring employees. LLCs, corporations, and partnerships all need one. Sole proprietors need an EIN if they plan to hire employees or pay excise taxes.10Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number Applying is free through the IRS website and takes minutes.11Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number
After the EIN, register with the Missouri Department of Revenue using Form 2643, the Missouri Tax Registration Application. That one form handles sales tax, use tax, and employer withholding. If you’ll sell goods at retail, this is where you get your sales tax permit. Skipping this registration can trigger penalties and block tax clearance certificates down the road.
A Note on Federal Beneficial Ownership Reporting
If you’ve heard warnings about Beneficial Ownership Information filings under the Corporate Transparency Act, as of March 2025 FinCEN issued an interim rule exempting all domestic companies from BOI reporting. Only foreign companies registered to do business in a U.S. state must file.12FinCEN.gov. Small Entity Compliance Guide A Missouri LLC or corporation formed domestically does not need to submit ownership information to FinCEN. The exemption came through an interim rule and FinCEN has said it intends to issue a final rule, so check for changes before relying on it long-term.13Federal Register. Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requirement Revision and Deadline Extension
If You Hire Employees
Hiring your first employee triggers more than income tax withholding.
Missouri employers must register for unemployment insurance through the Division of Employment Security. The program is funded entirely by employer contributions, with no deductions from employee paychecks, and the money goes to the Missouri Unemployment Compensation Fund.14Division of Employment Security. Division of Employment Security Register for a new unemployment tax account through the state’s online system and report wages quarterly.15Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Employers
Workers’ compensation insurance becomes mandatory once you have five or more employees. In construction, the threshold drops to one.16Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Employers, Insurers, and TPAs This one sneaks up on growing businesses. One day you hire your fifth person and you need a policy. Operating without required coverage exposes you personally to workplace injury claims and state penalties.
Local and Professional Licenses
Missouri does not issue a single statewide business license. Cities and counties handle their own. Many municipalities require a local occupational or merchant license for any business physically located within their borders, usually an annual fee set as a flat rate or based on gross receipts. Check with the city clerk or business licensing office where you’ll operate.
Regulated professions require separate licensing through the Missouri Division of Professional Registration, which oversees more than 40 boards covering fields like real estate, accounting, engineering, and healthcare.17MO.gov. Professional Registration and Licensing If your profession needs a license, you need it before taking clients, regardless of whether your LLC or corporation already exists.
Businesses whose operations affect air, water, or land quality may also need environmental permits from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. That reaches manufacturing, waste management, certain agricultural operations, and other industries with environmental impact.18Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Permits, Certifications, Registrations and Licenses
Keeping Your Business in Good Standing
Formation happens once. Compliance is ongoing, and what you owe each year depends on your entity type.
Missouri corporations file an annual registration report with the Secretary of State. For corporations formed or qualified after July 1, 2003, the report is due at the end of the month the corporation was originally formed. Online filing is $20; paper is $45. Late reports carry a $15 penalty for each 30-day period outstanding, and continued failure to file results in administrative dissolution of a domestic corporation or revocation of a foreign corporation’s authority to do business.2Missouri Secretary of State. Other Filings Required of General Business Corporations
Missouri LLCs have it easier: no annual report with the Secretary of State. That’s a real advantage for owners who want to keep paperwork minimal. LLCs still need to maintain a registered agent, keep the operating agreement current, and stay registered with the Department of Revenue and Division of Employment Security if they have employees.
Administrative dissolution sounds abstract until it happens. Once the state dissolves your entity, the liability shield you formed it for is gone. You can lose exclusive rights to your business name. Lenders and government contracts ask for certificates of good standing, and a dissolved entity can’t produce one. Reinstatement is possible, but it adds fees and paperwork that a timely annual filing would have avoided.