Form an Arkansas LLC or Corporation

The Great State of Arkansas is home to form president Bill Clinton and presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton.  The beautiful state is also home to many national parks and hot springs that you can visit.  But for many business owners who call Arkansas Home, it is also a very exciting place to run and operate a business.  For many small and medium sized business owners, they will want to choose to file a corporation or LLC to gain one of the many benefits that these exciting business types have to offer.  Some of the benefits include:

1. Limited liability protection
2. Build your business credit - create a separate entity that can on its own build credit
3. C Corporation can offer special benefits to the shareholders
4. S Corporation offers pass through taxation
5. Issue shares that can be transferred to owners
6. Be your own boss and earn financial freedom

These are some of the reasons why people decide to be come a new business owner and file for an LLC or Corporation.

To file for an LLC in AK, you will need to prepare Articles of Organization including an available name, a registered agent, number of shares, incorporator name and address, and have a stated business purpose.  You can view the following form to see how to Incorporate in Arkansas. 

Form an Arkansas LLC

Getting incorporated and forming an LLC are both completed in a similar manner and while it can be hard, our information will hopefully keep the process easy for you.  First, you should get the following form which will show you how to form an LLC in Arkansas.  The form has some portions which need instruction to make sure that you file it correctly, and we will try to answer these questions here for you.

1. You will need to have an available business name that meets the following requirements of the Secretary of State. 
2. The available name must have one of the following identifiers and must contain the following words:  limited liability company, limited company, L.L.C., LC, L.C., LTD. Co., or ltd. liability co.
3. Principle business address
4. State whether the business is member or manager managed.
5. A list of the Organizers.

When you break it down and see the requirements, you'll see it's not too difficult to file.  Be sure to submit the required fee, because the last thing you want to have happen is for the submission to get rejected and waste valuable time and resources.

From a tax perspective, the LLC is generally filed as a pass through entity, however, it can be viewed for tax purposes more like a corporation if that is what the shareholder prefers.  Please check with your CPA for specific questions and details.

Incorporate in Arkansas

The Arkansas filing for a corporation is is very similar to the filing for an LLC as mentioned above.  Obviously there is a different form, but the general information is the same which makes the filing decision easier to make.  Here are a few considerations to think about.

1. C Corporation - All corporations are filed by default at the state and federal level as a C corporation. The C corporation will typically be treated for tax purposes similar to an individual like you and me.  Meaning, that the C corp is responsible for their own taxes.  This is different than the S corporation, so let's discuss this now so you can see the difference.
2. S Corporation -  The S corp is registered by filing a 1120-S form with the IRS.  As an S corporation, you will be treated for tax purposes as a pass through entity.  This means that the income earned by the S corporation will pass through directly to the owners by default and end up on the shareholders tax returns.

There are two ways to structure the S corporation, so talk to a CPA before you make the decision about which one is right for you.

Naming a Arkansas Corporation

1. Must contain the words “Corporation”, Incorporated”, “Company”, “Limited”, or the abbreviation “Corp.”, “Inc.”, “Co.”, or “Ltd.” or words or abbreviations of like import in another language.
2. The name cannot contain certain reserved words such as "Bank", or "Banc" or other words that may be limited because they are controlled by professional agencies in the state.

• Online Filings in Arkansas
• Arkansas Search for Business Name
• Arkansas Incorporation Form



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