How to register an LLC in Florida

The five steps, in order

1. Pick the name and check it in the sunbiz.org search. It has to end in "LLC" or "Limited Liability Company" and can't match one that already exists.
2. Name a registered agent. It can be you, at your Florida address, and that's free. If you'd rather keep your address off the public record, a service runs $50 to $150 a year.
3. File the Articles of Organization on sunbiz.org. That's $125 total: $100 for the filing and $25 for the agent. Pay by card and the confirmation comes by email.
4. Get the EIN on irs.gov, free and instant. It's the number you open the bank account with and the one companies pay you against.
5. Open the business bank account with the EIN and the articles. Without a separate account, mixing your money with the company's strips the LLC of the protection you got it for.

The fees here are current as of mid-2026. Check sunbiz.org before paying: they change from year to year.

What it costs per year

The $400 late penalty on the annual report is the most expensive mistake and the most common one. There's no grace period and no extension: May 1 and it's done. Put a reminder in your phone for March 1 and pay it right then.

What isn't worth paying for

• The EIN. It's free on irs.gov. Anyone charging for it is charging for ten minutes of your time.
• The $300 or $500 "form your company" packages. They file the same form you would, with the same result.
• The corporate seal and the leather minute book. Neither is needed for anything.
• Registering in Delaware or Wyoming if you'll be working in Florida. You'd have to register in Florida as a foreign company anyway and end up paying twice.

The one thing worth paying for from day one is general liability insurance, plus a bond if you're going into people's homes. That's what opens doors the LLC alone doesn't.

Sole proprietor or LLC

You can legally work without registering anything, as a sole proprietor, using your own name and social security number. It's free, and it's how plenty of people start.

The difference is what happens when something goes wrong. If something expensive breaks on a job and they sue, without an LLC your own things answer for it: your account, your car, your house. With an LLC the company answers. For $125 a year, that's the whole reason.

The second reason is commercial. Plenty of property managers, builders, and companies won't hire anyone without a registered business and insurance in the business name. That's the best-paying work, gone.

What to do the day the approval lands

1. Open the business bank account and start collecting there, not in your personal one.
2. Get the local permit from the county or the city you'll be working in.
3. Quote general liability insurance. Between $40 and $90 a month for a small trade.
4. Open the Google Business profile with the exact LLC name. See how to set it up.
5. Buy the domain with the business name, about $12 a year, before somebody else does.

With those five done you're operating as a real business, and the only thing left is the part that brings work in: people being able to find you.