LLC by use
An LLC for Your Online Business or Ecommerce Store
An online business can start in an afternoon: a store on Shopify, a shop on Etsy, a listing on Amazon, a dropshipping supplier and a payment processor. Owners form an LLC when the store starts to look like a real business, so that the customer disputes, supplier contracts and product claims belong to a company, and so the money stops mixing with their own.
The state filing is the easy part. What trips up online sellers is the order after approval. Payment processors and marketplaces check the company's legal name against its federal tax number, sales tax registrations need both, and a brand-new EIN takes some time before those checks pass. Planning that sequence saves weeks of held payouts.
Form the LLC, filed for you
Pick the state, answer a few questions, and we prepare and submit the filing. Most people finish in about ten minutes.
Form Your LLCWhy an LLC for This
Product and buyer claims stay with the business
A product that injures someone, a supplier dispute, a chargeback fight or an intellectual property complaint is a claim against the seller. With an LLC that runs the store and holds the accounts, that seller is the company.
Platforms and processors want a business account
Shopify Payments, Stripe, PayPal, Amazon and Etsy all let you sell as a business. A company account with its own EIN keeps your Social Security number off vendor forms and makes the payouts, the tax forms and the books line up with the business.
Room to grow
Adding a partner, hiring a contractor, opening a second store or selling the brand later all work better through a company. The operating agreement records who owns what from the start.
What the Application Asks You to Decide
- Which state
- For most online sellers, the state you live and work in. An online business still operates wherever its owner sits, so a Wyoming or Delaware LLC run from a home in Texas generally has to register in Texas as a foreign company too, with two sets of reports. A founder abroad is the main exception, covered on our non-US residents page.
- Your home address
- Many online businesses are run from home. The registered agent's address and often the company's principal address are public, so a home address on the filing ends up in search results and on marketing lists. A registered agent service and a business mailing address keep it off.
- The company name and the brand
- The legal name needs an LLC designator and must be distinguishable from companies on file in the state. Your store's brand can be different. The LLC name does not give you trademark rights in the brand; that is a separate federal filing if you want it.
- Members and management
- A solo founder is a single-member, member-managed LLC. Co-founders splitting a store should settle ownership shares, who controls the platform logins and what happens to the store if one leaves, in the operating agreement.
After the State Approves It
- Get the company's EIN, then wait until the IRS has it on file before switching platforms over (see the EIN step below).
- Open a business bank account and point every platform payout to it.
- Update each platform and processor to the company's legal name and EIN, using exactly the name on the state's approval.
- Register for sales tax where you have to collect it. Marketplaces such as Amazon and Etsy collect it for sales they facilitate in almost every state, but sales on your own site are yours to collect wherever you have nexus, including states where your sales pass their economic threshold.
- Dropshippers and resellers: get a resale certificate so suppliers do not charge you sales tax on inventory you resell. States issue them only to registered sellers.
- Calendar the state's annual report.
The EIN Step for This Business
Online sellers feel the EIN step more than most. Stripe, Shopify Payments, PayPal and the Amazon tax interview check the company's legal name and EIN against IRS records, and a newly issued EIN can take about two weeks to post before those checks pass, which is why fresh accounts sometimes get 'name and tax ID do not match' errors. Those platforms then report your sales to the IRS on Form 1099-K once a year passes the federal threshold of $20,000 and 200 transactions, under the tax number you gave them.
Already have the LLC and only need the EIN? These llc-ein.com guides cover it:
- New EIN not active yet? What to do
- TIN matching: when a platform rejects the name and number
- Do you need an EIN for a bank account?
The EIN step by state: Texas EIN guide · Florida EIN guide · Colorado EIN guide · Indiana EIN guide · Wisconsin EIN guide · Wyoming EIN guide
General information about how LLCs are commonly used, not legal, tax or investment advice. Whether an LLC, and which structure, fits your situation is a question for an attorney or accountant who knows your facts.
Updated November 9, 2026.
File in the States Owners Pick Most
- TexasFile in TexasFranchise Tax Report, yearly, due May 15
- FloridaFile in FloridaAnnual Report, yearly, due May 1
- ColoradoFile in ColoradoPeriodic Report, yearly, due the last day of the anniversary month
- IndianaFile in IndianaBusiness Entity Report, every two years, due the last day of the anniversary month
- WisconsinFile in WisconsinAnnual Report, yearly, due the last day of the calendar quarter that holds the anniversary month
- WyomingFile in WyomingAnnual Report, yearly, due the first day of the anniversary month
Under each state, the yearly or two-yearly filing that state expects after formation and when it is due. Every state and DC is available in the application, and each state page has that state's portal, its first-year calendar and who appears on its public record.
Questions
Do I need an LLC to sell online?+
No. You can sell as a sole proprietor under your own name and Social Security number. Sellers form an LLC to separate the business's liabilities and money from their own, and because platforms, suppliers and wholesale accounts treat a company as a business from the start.
Should I form in Wyoming or Delaware for an online store?+
Usually not if you live in another state. The business operates where you work, so your home state generally requires the out-of-state LLC to register as a foreign company, and you file and pay in both. A Wyoming or Delaware LLC makes most sense for founders living outside the US or for holding companies.
Is a dropshipping business different?+
Not for the state filing. The difference is afterwards: you are the seller of record, so sales tax on your own site is yours to collect where you have nexus, and suppliers will ask for a resale certificate before they stop charging you tax on the goods.
What does the application ask for?+
The company name, the formation state, the company's mailing address, the owners (and managers if you choose manager-managed) and the registered agent. Your store URL, platforms and products are not part of the state filing. It takes about ten minutes.
How fast is the filing submitted?+
On a standard order your filing goes to the state within 3 business days. Choose same-day submission and, once your LLC details are in by 2 PM Eastern on a business day, it goes in that day. The state's own review time comes after that and varies by state.
Other reasons people form an LLC
- LLC for Your Rental Property
- LLC for Your Airbnb or Short-Term Rental
- LLC for Real Estate Investing
- LLC for Your Consulting Business
- Holding Company LLC
- LLC for Day Trading
- US LLC for Non-US Residents
- Anonymous LLC
- LLC for Your Cleaning Business
- LLC for Your Restaurant, Food Truck or Food Business
- LLC for Your Landscaping or Lawn Care Business
- LLC for Your Vending Machine Business
Ready to form the company?
One short application, then we prepare and file it with your state.
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