Small Businesses - Start Here! 

Our law firm helps Maryland businesses register and form limited liability companies (or LLCs)

Curious if a limited liability company is right for your business? We love helping start-ups at Arden Law - contact us to see if our lawyer can help answer your questions.

  What is a Limited Liability Company (LLC)?

As the name implies, a Limited Liability Company limits the liablity of the business owners for business operations.  A Limited Liability Company doesn’t mean you can never be sued, but it does help protect personal assets (home, etc.) from business claims. Very generally speaking, a properly set up LLC should insulate the owner’s other assets from attack.  

 How do I form an LLC in Maryland?

There are a few important formation steps for a new LLC.  Among the most basic:

• Filing ARTICLES OF ORGANIZATION (Articles tend to be VERY limited in information, they usually give little more than the business name and address and the name of a Resident Agent. Articles don’t say anything about who owns or controls your company! 

• Creating an OPERATING AGREEMENT (at a minimum an Operating Agreement will say who OWNS and who CONTROLS the Company) 

• Setting up TAX Accounts. (usually this involves both FEDERAL and STATE filings)

 How do I set up a S-Corporation in Maryland?

“At the outset, note that "S Corp” is a type of tax structure and not the type of entity.  
S-Corp status is elected AFTER you form an entity by filing with the IRS a form 2553 indicating that your business wishes to be taxed as such. The general order follows:

• Form entity by filing Articles 

• Create Bylaws or Operating Agreement

• Hold Organizational Meeting

  File IRS Form 2553 (within 2 months and 15 days after the start of the new company’s tax year)

Note that a S-Corp can not have any foreign non-resident owners and is limited to a maximum of 100 shareholders.
Before choosing a tax structure you may want to familiarize yourself with the different ways your entity can be structured for tax purposes.  

 How do I form a Corporation in Maryland?

A Corporation is formed by filing Articles with the State. This is just one piece of the normal start-up process.  Generally, to start a corporation you’ll do the following:

• File Articles of Organization

• Create Bylaws

• Hold Organizational Meeting, elect Directors, Officers (and issue stock as applicable)

  Make Tax Elections and Set up Tax Accounts