Form a Maryland LLC or Incorporate in Maryland
The process of forming an LLC in Maryland is easy to do if you follow what is defined in the State statutes. To help you along to way, we've put together enough information to get your started and hopefully we answer all of your questions on this page. If there is anything that you still have questions with please let us know.
Form a Maryland LLC
There are a few main reasons why people seek out forming an LLC for their Maryland LLC and here are two popular reasons:
- limited liability protection - a benefit of the LLC structure is having your personal and business assets legally separated. If you are able to operate the business right, this can be a huge benefit and limit your risk of potential loss.
- Pass through taxation - This is a tax benefit of the LLC and it will afford the members pass through taxation, thereby limiting the risk of double taxation on the LLC. Double taxation happens commonly when a corporation pays the tax on their income, and then a shareholder will pay an additional tax on a dividend distribution from the corporation.
Picking a Maryland LLC Business Name
The business name needs to follow a few rules:
- The business name for an LLC must contain one of the following words: "limited liability company", "LLC", "L.L.C"
- The business Name must not include any reserved words related to financial companys or doctor related fields. Use common sense here mainly in that words like "Bank" or "Banc" or "M.D." or "Doctor" might get your filing rejected because you are using reserved words. Our advice is that make sure that your name represents what type of service you are providing and that it is representative.
Incorporate in Maryland
The Maryland Corporate filing can be done by filing for a C corporation initially with the Maryland Secretary of State. All corporations are initially filed as C Corps, then you can elect with the IRS if you want to be treated as an S Corporation for tax purposes. As we've mentioned, the S corporation will give you pass through taxation status and limit the possibility of double taxation for your business.
The general process can be seen here on the sample form to incorporate in Maryland. You will need to have an available and acceptable name, a registered agent with a physical address, a mailing and business address, information about your shares, and the signature of your incorporator. The basic form, for a basic company can be filed very simply in the state.
Naming your Corporation in Maryland
The corporate name must contain "Corporation", "Incorporated", "Limited", "Inc.", "Corp.", or "Ltd." The corporation must not contain any reserved words like "Bank" or "Banc", etc. These reserved words are usually allowed only for certain regulated industries and to prevent the public from getting a wrong impression about is the true business purpose for the corporation.
Maryland Secretary of State Links:
