To start an LLC in Indiana, file Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State through the INBiz portal for a $100 base fee, after picking a compliant name and naming a registered agent with an Indiana street address. Online filings are typically processed within one business day. Mailed paper filings take two to three weeks. Everything else, from the operating agreement to tax registrations, builds on that single filing.
Pick a Name That Clears Both Checks
Your LLC’s name has to include “Limited Liability Company,” “L.L.C.,” or “LLC.”1Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 23-0.5-3-2 – Required Words or Phrases It also has to be distinguishable on the Secretary of State’s records from every other active entity, recently dissolved entity, and reserved name in Indiana.2Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 23-0.5-3-1 – Permitted Names Distinguishable isn’t the same as totally different. Two names can share common words so long as the overall names wouldn’t be confused in the state’s records.
Run your preferred name through the business name search tool on INBiz.3INBiz. INBiz – Indiana’s One Stop Source for Your Business If it’s available but you’re not ready to file, you can reserve it for 120 days for $20.
State approval is not trademark clearance. A name can clear the Secretary of State’s database and still infringe a federally registered mark. Before you commit to signage, a website, or marketing, search the USPTO trademark database for identical and similar marks in your industry, focusing on live registrations.4United States Patent and Trademark Office. Federal Trademark Searching A rebrand after launch costs far more than picking a different name now.
Appoint a Registered Agent
Every Indiana LLC has to designate and continuously maintain a registered agent inside the state.5Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 23-0.5-4-3 – Designation of Registered Agent; Required Filings This is the person or entity who receives lawsuits, tax notices, and other official mail on the LLC’s behalf. If someone sues your business, your agent is who gets served.
The agent can be an individual, a domestic business entity, or a registered foreign entity, and must have an Indiana street address. The statute specifies a street address, which rules out P.O. boxes.6Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 23-0.5-4-2 – Street Address Naming yourself works if you’re reliably available at that address during normal business hours. If you travel often or want to keep your home address off public records, a commercial registered agent service handles it for a yearly fee.
File the Articles of Organization
The Articles of Organization (State Form 49459) is the document that actually creates your LLC under Indiana law.7Indiana Secretary of State. Articles of Organization – Domestic Limited Liability Company, State Form 49459 The form asks for:
- The LLC’s name, with one of the required designators.
- The principal office address, meaning the physical location where the business operates. If the business runs entirely from a member’s home, you can check a box indicating all business is conducted remotely and attach a supplemental form instead.
- The registered agent’s name and Indiana street address, with confirmation the agent has consented.
- The LLC’s duration, which defaults to perpetual unless you set a specific dissolution date.
You can file through INBiz or mail the completed form to the Secretary of State at 302 West Washington Street, Room E-018, Indianapolis, IN 46204.7Indiana Secretary of State. Articles of Organization – Domestic Limited Liability Company, State Form 49459 The base filing fee is $100, with an additional portal access fee for online submissions.3INBiz. INBiz – Indiana’s One Stop Source for Your Business Check INBiz for the current total when you file. Online filings are typically processed within one business day. Paper takes two to three weeks depending on volume.
Once approved, you receive a Certificate of Organization confirming the LLC legally exists. Keep it with your business records. You’ll need it to open a bank account and may need it for licensing later.
Write an Operating Agreement
Indiana doesn’t require you to file an operating agreement with the state, but every LLC should have one.8INBiz. Business Entity It’s the internal contract between members that sets out ownership percentages, how profits and losses are split, how decisions get made, and what happens when a member leaves or a new one joins. Without one, Indiana’s default statutory rules fill the gaps, and those defaults may not match what you and your co-owners actually agreed to.
Even a single-member LLC benefits from one. When courts decide whether to hold an owner personally liable for business obligations, they sometimes look at whether the LLC followed basic formalities. An operating agreement is one of the clearest signals that you treated the business as a separate entity.
The provisions that most often save businesses from crisis involve ownership changes: what triggers a buyout, whether a departing member can sell to outsiders, how the business gets valued, and whether the price can be paid in installments. Setting a valuation method in advance avoids bitter fights when a member dies, divorces, retires, or simply wants out.
Get an EIN and Open a Business Bank Account
After the state approves your LLC, apply for an Employer Identification Number from the IRS. The EIN is a nine-digit tax ID you’ll need to open a business bank account, file tax returns, and hire employees. The IRS issues EINs online for free, and the application takes about ten minutes.9Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number Apply directly through the IRS site. Third-party services that charge for this are selling you something you can do yourself at no cost.
With your EIN and Certificate of Organization in hand, open a dedicated business bank account. Banks are federally required to collect identifying information about the LLC and will want documentation proving the entity exists.10Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Customer Identification Program A separate account is the most basic step in keeping your personal liability shield intact.
Register for Indiana State Taxes If They Apply
Depending on what the LLC does, you may need to register with the Indiana Department of Revenue through INBiz. Selling tangible goods or certain services requires a Registered Retail Merchant’s Certificate before you can collect sales tax.11INBiz. Tax Registration – Taxes and Fees Hiring employees means registering for state income tax withholding through the same portal. INBiz also handles food and beverage taxes, county innkeeper’s taxes, and various fuel taxes.
Not every LLC needs a state tax registration. A consulting firm with no employees and no tangible product sales may only deal with federal income tax and self-employment tax. But if you’re selling products or hiring, get these registrations in place before your first transaction.
Pick Your Federal Tax Treatment
By default, a single-member LLC is taxed as a sole proprietorship, and a multi-member LLC is taxed as a partnership. In both cases profits pass through to members’ personal returns and the LLC itself pays no federal income tax. Members of multi-member LLCs generally pay self-employment tax on their share of partnership earnings.12Internal Revenue Service. LLC Filing as a Corporation or Partnership
You can elect different treatment if the default doesn’t fit. Filing IRS Form 8832 lets the LLC be taxed as a C corporation, with the business paying corporate income tax and distributions taxed again at the individual level. Filing Form 2553 lets a qualifying LLC be taxed as an S corporation, where profits still pass through but owners who work in the business pay themselves a reasonable salary subject to payroll taxes and take remaining profits as distributions not subject to self-employment tax.12Internal Revenue Service. LLC Filing as a Corporation or Partnership S corporation status comes with restrictions, including a 100-shareholder cap, one class of stock, and shareholders who are U.S. citizens or residents, qualifying trusts, or estates. A new LLC has 75 days from formation to file Form 2553 if it wants S corporation treatment from day one.
File a Business Entity Report Every Two Years
Indiana requires every LLC to file a Business Entity Report every two years, due during the anniversary month of formation.13INBiz. Filing – Business Entity An LLC formed in September 2026 files its first report in September 2028, and every two years after. Filing happens through INBiz.
Missing the deadline is costly. The Secretary of State will administratively dissolve an LLC that fails to file, which strips your active business status and bars the LLC from legally conducting business until you apply for reinstatement.14INBiz. Administrative Dissolution/Revocation Reinstatement is time-consuming and more expensive than the report would have been. Set a calendar reminder well before your anniversary month. You also have to keep a registered agent on file continuously; if your agent resigns or moves and you don’t update the records, that’s another route to administrative dissolution.
Keep Your Liability Shield Intact
Forming an LLC gives you personal liability protection on paper. Keeping it in practice means treating the business as genuinely separate from your personal life. Courts can pierce the veil of an LLC and hold members personally liable when the business looks like a personal piggy bank. The behaviors that get owners in trouble are predictable: paying personal bills from the business account, depositing business income into a personal account, skipping the operating agreement, and keeping no record of major decisions.
Maintain a separate bank account and never mix funds. Keep your operating agreement current. Document significant decisions in writing even if you’re the only member. Make sure the business is adequately capitalized for its operations. One important limit: personally guaranteeing a business loan or pledging personal assets as collateral exposes you to liability on that specific obligation no matter how well you maintain the LLC’s separate identity.
What About Federal BOI Reporting?
If you’ve read older guides mentioning Beneficial Ownership Information reports under the Corporate Transparency Act, that obligation no longer applies to domestic LLCs. FinCEN published an interim final rule on March 26, 2025, exempting all entities created in the United States from the BOI reporting requirement.15Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting A new Indiana LLC does not need to file a BOI report with FinCEN. The requirement now applies only to certain foreign entities registered to do business in the United States.