Best LLC Formation Services in Washington State

Washington has no personal income tax. It taxes your gross receipts instead. That is the Business and Occupation tax, and the bill arrives whether or not you made money that year.

The service rate climbs as you grow. Under $1 million in prior year revenue you pay 1.5 percent. From $1 million to $4,999,999 it is 1.75 percent, and at $5 million and above it is 2.1 percent. Sell goods instead and the rate drops. Retailing sits at 0.471 percent, wholesaling and manufacturing at 0.484 percent, per the Department of Revenue rate list.

Washington does not offer anonymous LLCs. The Certificate of Formation is not what exposes you though. RCW 25.15.071 wants the name and address of whoever signs it, and a service can sign for you. The catch lands within 120 days. RCW 23.95.255 makes the initial report list your governors. A governor is a manager if managers run the LLC, and a member if they do not. Every annual report after that repeats it. Wyoming and New Mexico let members stay off for good. Washington gives you four months.

Every Washington LLC gets a Unified Business Identifier at formation. One number covers Revenue, Employment Security and the rest. Order matters here. File the LLC first. The Department of Revenue will not take your Business License Application until the Secretary of State has your LLC on file. Our Washington LLC formation guide walks the filing itself step by step.

1. Check whether your initial report went in with the certificate. The online form files it by default. If you deferred it, it is a $10 filing due within 120 days of your effective date.
2. Apply for your state business license. Revenue requires one if your gross income reaches $12,000 a year, if you hire within 90 days, if you collect sales tax, or if you trade under a name other than your own. Online applications take about 10 business days. City and state endorsements add two to three weeks, and the fee depends on which endorsements you need.
3. Register for B&O tax and any sales tax with Revenue. Use your UBI number.
4. File your annual report by the last day of your anniversary month. It is $70. Filed late it is $95, and a report left unfiled can end in administrative dissolution.
5. Line up your registered agent for year two. Most services include the first year and bill for it after that. Year two is the surprise. Our Washington registered agent comparison prices it out.
6. Draft an operating agreement. Washington does not require one. Banks ask for it anyway, and it holds up your liability shield when an LLC has more than one member.

• The online processing fee - Washington publishes $180 for the Certificate of Formation, then adds a processing fee it does not name in advance. You see it only at checkout. That is why the $200 total in most guides is a guess. We tested 6 services against the $180 the state actually prints on its own instructions.
• Deferring the initial report - Filed with the certificate it costs nothing. Defer it and it becomes a $10 filing. You then have 120 days.
• The annual report is $70, not the $60 most guides still print. Washington raised it under WAC 434-112-085(7). Filed late it is $95.
• Speed costs $100 - Expedited priority is $100 at checkout for about three working days, and same day service is $150. Washington publishes no standard turnaround at all. Filings are worked in the order received.
• Reinstatement is $140, plus every annual report you missed. That is the price of coming back.