Michigan LLC formation · MiBusiness Registry
Michigan LLC Filing with LARA on the MiBusiness Registry
LARA launched the MiBusiness Registry in June 2025 to replace its previous business filing platform. Access by CID and PIN was discontinued, and every filing now needs a MiLogin for Business account. Guides that still describe the old system or a CID and PIN are out of date.
A Michigan LLC is created by filing Articles of Organization, Form CSCL/CD-700, with the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), and the online route is the MiBusiness Registry. This page covers the MiLogin for Business account the portal requires, the articles screen by screen, the reasons LARA sends filings back, how to check on one and the Annual Statement that follows on the same portal. Or we prepare the articles and file them on the MiBusiness Registry for you.
Updated November 1, 2026. Facts checked October 2026.
Have it filed on MiBusiness Registry for you
One short application. We check the name, draft the Articles of Organization and submit it through MiBusiness Registry.
Form Your Michigan LLCWhat MiBusiness Registry Is
The MiBusiness Registry is the online filing portal of LARA's Corporations Division, part of the Corporations, Securities and Commercial Licensing Bureau. LARA built it as a single place for business entity formation, annual reports and statements, certificate and copy orders, and searching business records, and michigan.gov/corpfileonline now leads to it. A Michigan LLC's articles are filed there, and so is every Annual Statement after.
Michigan's articles are short. Form CD-700, in its July 2025 revision, asks for the name, the purpose, the duration and the resident agent, which is Michigan's term for a registered agent, plus a management article for a company run by managers. Members and managers are not named, and the agent does not sign. The care goes into what the form does not warn you about: a professional service company has to use a different form, CD-701, and a company meant to be run by managers that leaves out the management article is managed by its members by default.
We prepare Michigan articles of organization filings and submit them through MiBusiness Registry for customers, the way an accountant or attorney would. Michigan's fee is the same whether you file on MiBusiness Registry yourself or we file for you; this page explains both routes so you can pick one.
- Filing portal
- MiBusiness Registry
- Run by
- Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), Corporations Division
- Document filed
- Articles of Organization
- State fee
- $50
- State expedite tiers
- 24-hour, same-day, 2-hour, 1-hour
- Facts checked
- October 2026
Expedite amounts are the state's own and sit in the facts box on the Michigan LLC page. See expedited options by state.
Before You Start on MiBusiness Registry
- A MiLogin for Business account. LARA requires it to submit filings or order certificates and copies on the MiBusiness Registry. Create it before you start; the same login is used for the Annual Statement every year.
- Card payment, with a cart. The portal lets you pay for several filings in one checkout, so a certificate order can go through with the articles.
- The right form. Professional service companies, such as those practicing medicine, dentistry or law, file Form CSCL/CD-701 instead of CD-700. Everything on this page is CD-700.
- A Michigan street address for the registered office. The resident agent's registered office must be a street address in Michigan, with a mailing address added if mail is not delivered there. A member who lives in Michigan can be the agent.
The MiBusiness Registry LLC Filing, Step by Step
Step 1: Sign in with MiLogin for Business
Go to the MiBusiness Registry through michigan.gov/corpfileonline, sign in with your MiLogin for Business account and choose the Articles of Organization for a domestic limited liability company, Form CSCL/CD-700.
Step 2: Enter the name (Article I)
The name must contain Limited Liability Company, L.L.C., L.C., LLC or LC and be distinguishable from the names on LARA's records. A name reservation is optional; most filers skip it and let the Corporations Division check the name when it reviews the articles.
Step 3: Keep the purpose (Article II)
The Act's own wording, that the company may engage in any activity within the purposes for which a limited liability company may be formed, is enough. A specific purpose can be added but is not required.
Step 4: Set the duration (Article III)
Perpetual unless a fixed term is entered. Most companies leave it perpetual.
Step 5: Name the resident agent and registered office (Article IV)
The resident agent's name and the street address of the registered office in Michigan, with a mailing address if different. The agent does not sign the articles. If you choose our registered agent service, our agent and its Michigan office are named here.
Step 6: Add the management article if managers will run it (Article V)
A Michigan LLC is member-managed unless its articles say otherwise. A company to be run by managers adds an article stating that it will be managed by one or more managers; no manager is named.
Step 7: Choose an effective date (optional)
The articles take effect when LARA files them, or on a later date up to 90 days after LARA receives them.
Step 8: Sign as organizer
One or more organizers sign, each with a typed name. The Act's definition of a person includes entities, so a filing service can organize the company; when we file, we are the organizer.
Step 9: Pay the state and submit
Pay Michigan's fee by card at checkout and submit. LARA's paid expedite tiers are charged on top of it; the amounts are in the facts box on our Michigan LLC page. Once LARA files the articles, the company appears in the portal's business search.
Rather not work through MiBusiness Registry yourself?
One short application covers the name search, the Articles of Organization and the submission through MiBusiness Registry.
Form Your Michigan LLCWhy MiBusiness Registry Filings Get Rejected
- A name that is not distinguishable from a company already on LARA's records, or that lacks one of the accepted endings.
- A registered office that is not a Michigan street address.
- A professional service company, such as a medical, dental or law practice, filed on CD-700 instead of Form CSCL/CD-701.
- An organizer signature without the typed name beneath it, or no organizer signature at all.
- A delayed effective date more than 90 days after LARA receives the articles.
- A payment that does not clear. Michigan's filing fee is not refundable once the articles are reviewed.
A rejection costs the days the filing sat in the queue, and in some states the name you wanted. Our name check and field review happen before the filing goes to MiBusiness Registry, which is most of what you pay us for. The form itself, field by field: the Michigan Form CD-700.
Processing and Checking Status
We do not promise LARA's processing time, and Michigan does not publish a fixed one for standard review of online articles. What changes the speed is one of LARA's paid tiers.
Michigan sells faster review in four tiers: 24-hour, same-day for filings received by 1 p.m. Eastern, 2-hour and 1-hour, each for an added fee set by the state. The amounts are in the facts box on our Michigan LLC page.
To check on a filing, sign in to the MiBusiness Registry, or search the company name in its business search once LARA has filed the articles. LARA's Corporations Division FAQ also answers the question of a filing's status.
Official pages: MiBusiness Registry (michigan.gov/corpfileonline) · Corporations Division FAQ (michigan.gov).
The speed we control is when the filing reaches Michigan: same-day LLC filing sends it to MiBusiness Registry the business day your details are in.
After Approval on MiBusiness Registry
- The Annual Statement. Every Michigan LLC files an Annual Statement with LARA by February 15, starting the February after the year it was formed; a company formed after September 30 skips the first February 15 and files first the year after. Since the MiBusiness Registry launched, annual statements must be filed online; paper is no longer accepted. As a state fact, Michigan adds no late penalty: a missed statement is filed later, and the company is marked not in good standing until it is.
- Changing the resident agent. The Annual Statement can name a new resident agent, so an agent change can ride on the yearly filing instead of a separate one.
- Certificates and copies. Certificates of good standing and document copies are ordered on the MiBusiness Registry; LARA no longer takes those orders by phone. Michigan has no newspaper publication requirement for LLCs, and the operating agreement is not filed with the state.
File the Michigan Annual Statement online, or have it filed · Annual Statement on the MiBusiness Registry
Filing It Yourself vs Having Us File It
The state fee is the same either way; what changes is who does the work and who is watching when MiBusiness Registry answers.
| Filing it yourself on MiBusiness Registry | Having us file it | |
|---|---|---|
| Checking the name | You search Michigan's records yourself; MiBusiness Registry does not warn you about a taken name before you pay. | We search Michigan's records before anything is submitted and tell you the same day if there is a conflict. |
| Drafting the Articles of Organization | You type each field into MiBusiness Registry and read the state's instructions as you go. | We draft every field the way MiBusiness Registry expects, from one short application. |
| The registered agent | You name one who qualifies under Michigan's rule. | Yours, checked against Michigan's rule, or our registered agent service as an add-on. |
| Watching for a rejection | You watch the email MiBusiness Registry has on file and resubmit if the filing bounces. | We watch the filing through to approval, and a rejection is corrected and refiled. |
| When it is submitted | Whenever you sit down to finish the form. | Standard orders go to Michigan within 3 business days; same-day submission by 2 PM Eastern goes in that business day. |
| Who answers questions | The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA)'s help pages and phone line. | A person on our team, by email, Monday to Friday. |
| The state fee | Paid to Michigan on MiBusiness Registry. | Paid to Michigan, the same amount, itemized before you pay. |
MiBusiness Registry LLC Filing Questions
Can I file a Michigan LLC myself on the MiBusiness Registry?+
Yes. Create a MiLogin for Business account, complete Form CD-700 on screen and pay Michigan's fee by card; the fee is the same whether you file or we do. You take on the name check, the right form for a professional company, the management article if managers will run the company, and watching for a rejection. When we file, each of those is checked before the filing goes in.
Do I need a MiLogin account?+
Yes. LARA requires a MiLogin for Business account to submit filings or order certificates and copies on the MiBusiness Registry. The old CID and PIN access to business records was discontinued when the portal launched. Keep the login with the company's records; the Annual Statement is filed under it every year.
Is the MiBusiness Registry the same as LARA's old online filing system?+
It replaced it. LARA launched the MiBusiness Registry in June 2025 as the new home for entity formation, annual statements, certificates and record searches, and michigan.gov/corpfileonline leads there now. The articles themselves did not change with the portal: Form CSCL/CD-700 is in its July 2025 revision.
Does the resident agent sign the Michigan articles?+
No. Article IV names the resident agent and the registered office, and there is no acceptance or signature for the agent. Michigan still expects the agent to have agreed to serve, so an owner who names a friend or an office should keep that agreement in writing in the company's records.
How fast can Michigan approve an LLC?+
As fast as the tier you pay for. Michigan sells 24-hour, same-day (for filings received by 1 p.m. Eastern), 2-hour and 1-hour review, each for an added state fee, and publishes no fixed time for standard review. We do not promise the state's time; when we file, we send you the filed articles the day LARA returns them. Expedited LLC filing by state
When is the first Michigan Annual Statement due?+
February 15 of the year after the company is formed, unless it was formed after September 30; then the first is due on the second February 15. A company formed in March 2026 files by February 15, 2027; one formed in November 2026 files first by February 15, 2028. It is filed online on the MiBusiness Registry. File the Michigan Annual Statement
Can I still file the Michigan articles on paper?+
Yes. LARA still accepts Form CD-700 by mail to the Corporations Division's post office box in Lansing or in person. The annual statements are a different matter: since the MiBusiness Registry launched, they must be filed online.
Is America LLC Filing part of LARA?+
No. The MiBusiness Registry belongs to LARA's Corporations Division, the government office that files Michigan LLCs. America LLC Filing is a private company. We prepare your Articles of Organization and submit them through the MiBusiness Registry for you, and our fee is for that work, separate from the state's own fee.
Have Your Michigan LLC Filed on MiBusiness Registry
Name checked, Articles of Organization drafted and submitted through MiBusiness Registry, approval sent to your inbox.
Form Your Michigan LLC