How to start an LLC in Florida

Florida is one of the most popular states in the country to start an LLC — a huge market, no state income tax on individuals, and a fully online filing system (Sunbiz) that can have your company approved in under a week. It’s also home to the single most expensive mistake new LLC owners make: missing the annual report deadline and eating a $400 late fee.

This guide covers the whole thing in plain English: what the $125 really buys, each filing step, a realistic timeline, the taxes that actually apply, and the compliance calendar that keeps your LLC alive.

What a Florida LLC really costs

Forming the LLC costs $125, paid to the Florida Division of Corporations when you file. That number is really two required fees bundled together, plus two optional extras you’ll see on the checkout screen (the full Sunbiz fee schedule is public):

Articles filing fee

$100

Required

Registered agent designation

$25

Required

Certified copy

$30

Optional

Certificate of status

$5

Optional

The recurring cost is the annual report: $138.75 every year, starting the calendar year after you form. Over a few years, that — not the formation fee — is most of what Florida charges you. Here’s the five-year picture in state fees alone, assuming you file on time and act as your own registered agent:

Two line items can sit on top of that. Your EIN is free directly from the IRS. A registered agent service — if you hire one instead of acting as your own — typically runs $50–$150/year. And one $400 late fee wipes out years of Florida’s price advantage, which is why the annual report section below is the part of this guide to read twice.

Want to compare? Our LLC cost calculator prices any state in a few clicks, and the LLC cost by state guide has all 50 states in one table — Florida lands middle-of-the-pack on formation and slightly above average on annual fees.

How to form a Florida LLC, step by step

Five steps, start to finish. Most founders complete steps 1–3 in a single sitting; the state’s processing time is the only real wait.

1. 1

   Choose your LLC name

   Florida requires the name to contain “Limited Liability Company,” “LLC,” or “L.L.C.” and to be distinguishable from every entity already on the Division of Corporations’ records. “Distinguishable” is stricter than it sounds — punctuation, suffixes, and words like “the” usually aren’t enough to separate two names.

   Search your name on Sunbiz before you file. Two things to know:

   • A Sunbiz search isn’t a guarantee. Names are checked when your filing is processed, not when you search, so a name that looks free today can be taken by the time your Articles land.
   • Florida doesn’t offer name reservations. The Division of Corporations states plainly that “preliminary name searches and name reservations are no longer available” — there is no way to hold a name before filing. The only way to lock in a name is to file your Articles of Organization, so search Sunbiz and file promptly once your name looks clear.
2. 2

   Appoint a registered agent

   Every Florida LLC must continuously maintain a registered agent: a person or company with a Florida street address (not a P.O. box) that accepts service of process — lawsuits and official mail — on the LLC’s behalf during business hours.

   You can be your own registered agent if you live in Florida, but your street address goes on the public record and you need to be reliably available at it. Founders who move, travel, or work from home often use a registered agent service instead, typically $50–$150/year. Either way, the agent must accept the appointment — on Sunbiz that’s done with the agent’s signature (typed, for online filings) on the Articles.

3. 3

   File the Articles of Organization on Sunbiz

   The Articles of Organization is the document that creates your LLC. You file it with the Florida Division of Corporations — everyone calls the system Sunbiz — online or by mail, and pay the $125.

   The form asks for: your LLC name, principal address, mailing address, registered agent name + Florida street address (with the agent’s acceptance), the names and addresses of the people authorized to manage the LLC, and an optional effective date — you can post-date up to 90 days ahead.

   Online filings are typically processed in about 2–6 business days (Sunbiz processing dates fluctuate with the Division’s backlog). Once approved, your LLC exists and appears in Sunbiz’s public records.

4. 4

   Get your free EIN from the IRS

   An EIN (Employer Identification Number) is your LLC’s federal tax ID. You’ll need it to open a business bank account, hire employees, and file taxes. It’s free directly from the IRS — apply online after your LLC is approved, and the IRS issues the number immediately at the end of the online session. Never pay a third party a standalone fee just to “get you an EIN.”

5. 5

   Create an operating agreement

   Florida’s LLC statute — the Revised Limited Liability Company Act, Chapter 605, Florida Statutes — doesn’t require an operating agreement. You want one anyway. It’s the document that sets out who owns what, how decisions get made, and how profits are split. Without it, Chapter 605’s default rules decide those questions for you, and banks, investors, and title companies frequently ask to see one.

   For single-member LLCs it also helps show your LLC is genuinely separate from you — which is the entire point of forming one.

A realistic formation timeline

Here’s how the calendar actually plays out for a typical online filing — or model your own dates with the formation timeline calculator:

Mailed filings stretch that first week into several weeks once mail time and processing are included. If you’re on any kind of deadline — a closing, a contract, a boat or aircraft purchase — file online.

The annual report: Florida’s $400 trap

Every Florida LLC must file an annual report with the Division of Corporations between January 1 and May 1, every year, starting the calendar year after formation. The fee is $138.75. It’s not a financial report — it just confirms or updates your addresses, registered agent, and management.

The deadline trips up founders because nothing forces you to remember it — at most, the state emails a reminder to the address on file, and that’s it. No paper notice, no invoice, no second chance. Put May 1 in your calendar the day your LLC is approved, or check your exact dates with our annual report deadline calculator. (FilingDesk’s Complete plan auto-files annual reports so this deadline is never your problem.)

Florida LLC taxes, briefly

• No state personal income tax. Florida doesn’t tax individual income, so profits that pass through a default-taxed LLC to you aren’t taxed by the state. This is a big part of Florida’s appeal.
• Federal taxes still apply. A single-member LLC reports on Schedule C; multi-member LLCs file a partnership return. Profits are generally subject to federal income tax and self-employment tax — see our LLC vs S-Corp guide for when an S-corp election can reduce the self-employment-tax bill.
• Florida’s 5.5% corporate income tax only touches your LLC if you elect to have it taxed as a C-corporation — most small LLCs never do.
• Sales tax is the one most founders actually owe — covered next, because it involves a second state agency entirely.

Sales tax, the DOR, and local licenses

Sunbiz creates your LLC; it doesn’t register you for taxes. If you sell taxable goods or services in Florida, you also need to register with the Florida Department of Revenue before you start collecting. Florida’s state sales tax rate is 6%, and most counties add a small discretionary sales surtax on top.

Two more layers worth knowing:

• Local business tax receipt. Many Florida counties and cities require a local business tax receipt (the old “occupational license”) before you start operating. Check your county tax collector — it’s a local requirement Sunbiz never mentions.
• Big-ticket purchases have their own rules. Florida applies sales and use tax to boats and aircraft with caps and exemptions that reward planning — see our guides to Florida boat sales tax, owning a boat through a Florida LLC, and Florida aircraft LLCs if that’s why you’re forming.

Single-member vs multi-member: the Florida wrinkle

Both file the same Articles, pay the same $125, and owe the same $138.75 annual report. The difference shows up if a creditor ever comes after you personally.

Under Chapter 605, a personal creditor of a member of a multi-member Florida LLC is limited to a charging order — a lien on distributions, with no vote and no seat at the table. For a single-member LLC, the statute expressly says that’s not the ceiling: if the charging order won’t satisfy the judgment within a reasonable time, a court can order the member’s entire interest foreclosed and sold. In plain English, single-member LLCs get weaker creditor protection than multi-member ones in Florida.

Already formed elsewhere? You may need a foreign LLC registration

If your LLC was formed in another state — Wyoming, Delaware, anywhere — but you actually operate in Florida (an office, employees, ongoing local business), Florida expects you to register it as a foreign LLC with the Division of Corporations. The application costs $125 (the same $100 + $25 structure) and requires a certificate of existence from your home state. After that you owe Florida the same $138.75 annual report every year, on top of whatever your formation state charges.

That double overhead is why the standard advice holds: if your business lives in Florida, form in Florida. Out-of-state formation mostly makes sense for location-independent businesses — see our Wyoming LLC guide for that comparison, or the broader best state to form an LLC breakdown.

Is Florida right for you?

If you live in Florida or your business operates there, the answer is almost always yes — form at home. You get no state income tax on pass-through profits, a fast online filing system, and none of the foreign-registration overhead of forming out of state. The costs are middle-of-the-pack ($125 to form, $138.75/year) and entirely predictable as long as you respect the May 1 deadline.

The main reason to look elsewhere is if your business isn’t tied to Florida at all and you want lower recurring fees or more privacy — that’s the Wyoming conversation.

Six common mistakes (and how to dodge them)

1. Missing the May 1 annual report deadline. The flat $400 late fee is the most expensive routine mistake in Florida small business. Calendar it the day you’re approved.
2. Paying for an EIN. It’s free from the IRS, issued in minutes online. Any standalone “EIN service” fee is pure markup.
3. Listing a P.O. box for the registered agent. Florida requires a street address; a P.O. box gets the filing rejected or the appointment invalidated.
4. Assuming a Sunbiz search reserved your name. Florida has no name reservations — the name is only yours once your Articles are accepted.
5. Stopping at Sunbiz. If you sell taxable goods or services, you still need Department of Revenue registration — and possibly a local business tax receipt — before you operate.
6. Forming out of state while operating in Florida. You’ll end up paying the $125 foreign registration plus two states’ annual fees, for no benefit a Florida business can actually use.

Where FilingDesk fits

FilingDesk’s Florida filing is available now. The flow is the same as our Wyoming product: describe your business in plain English, and we run the name check, prepare and file your Articles with the state — every filing reviewed and submitted by a human before it goes out — then get your EIN and generate your operating agreement. One flat $99 plus the $125 state cost, $224 all-in, everything included, no upsells. See how it works.

Ready? Start your Florida LLC now.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Florida Division of Corporations — Create a Florida LLC (Sunbiz e-file)
• Florida Division of Corporations — Annual report filing
• Sunbiz — Search corporation records by name
• Florida Division of Corporations — Fee schedule
• IRS — Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) online
• Florida Department of Revenue — Sales and Use Tax
• Florida Statutes, Chapter 605 — Florida Revised Limited Liability Company Act

This guide is general information, not legal advice. FilingDesk is not a law firm.