You Just Formed an LLC. Here's What You Have to Do in the Next 30 Days.

You filed the paperwork. The state approved it. Congratulations — you have an LLC.

Now here’s what most new business owners do next: nothing. They start taking clients, mixing money, and skipping the steps that make the LLC actually work. By the time they land in my office, they’ve got commingled funds, no tax election on record, and a liability shield that’s more suggestion than fact.

Here’s the list. Do these in the first 30 days.

Step 1: Get Your EIN

An EIN — Employer Identification Number — is your business’s federal tax ID. You need it to open a bank account, hire employees, file payroll, and in many cases, just do business. It’s free, and you get it directly from the IRS website in about ten minutes.

One thing people get wrong: apply after your state approves the LLC, not before. The IRS application asks for your state filing date. Go to irs.gov, search “EIN online application,” and apply during business hours — you get the number immediately. Don’t pay a third party $50 to do this.

Step 2: Open a Business Bank Account — Before Any Money Moves

This is not optional. The whole point of an LLC is limited liability protection — the idea that if the business gets sued, your personal assets stay separate. That protection evaporates the moment you run business income through your personal checking account.

Open a dedicated business checking account as soon as you have your EIN and your Articles of Organization. Every client payment goes in there. Every business expense comes out of there. Nothing else.

I’ve seen people lose the liability argument in court not because the business did anything wrong, but because they were writing personal grocery bills out of the business account. The IRS and plaintiff’s attorneys both call that “commingling,” and it’s the first thing they look for. There’s a full post on why that matters if you want the details.

Step 3: Make Your Tax Election

This is the step people miss most often, and it’s the most expensive one to get wrong.

By default, a single-member LLC is a “disregarded entity.” That means the IRS ignores the LLC and taxes the owner directly on Schedule C. You pay income tax plus self-employment tax (15.3%) on every dollar of net profit.

That default is fine when you’re just starting out and profits are modest. But once you’re clearing $50,000 to $60,000 in net profit, there’s often real money to save by electing S-corp status — which lets you pay yourself a reasonable salary and take the remainder as a distribution, keeping the distribution out of the SE tax base.

The tradeoff: S-corp comes with payroll costs, a more complex return, and a reasonable salary requirement the IRS will enforce. It’s not right for everyone. The LLC vs. S-Corp calculator will show you the actual break-even for your numbers, and this post walks through the scenarios where an S-corp costs you money before it saves you anything.

The point here is: make a conscious decision. Don’t stumble into the default because you never looked at it. The election window matters — miss it and you may have to wait a year. If you already missed the deadline, there’s still a path to elect for the current year.

Step 4: Draft an Operating Agreement

An operating agreement is the LLC’s rulebook. It defines who owns what percentage, who can make decisions, how profits get distributed, and what happens if an owner wants out.

Most states don’t legally require one for a single-member LLC. New York does. And frankly, even if your state doesn’t require it, you should have one. Banks sometimes ask for it. Courts look for it when liability is disputed. If you have partners, it’s the document that prevents a $200,000 argument later.

Get it in writing, sign it, and keep a copy somewhere you’ll find it.

Step 5: Handle New York’s Publication Requirement (If You’re in NY)

If you formed your LLC in New York, you have a publication requirement. Within 120 days of formation, you must publish a notice of formation in two newspapers designated by the county clerk — one daily, one weekly — for six consecutive weeks. Then you file a Certificate of Publication with the state.

It costs somewhere between $200 and $2,000 depending on the county. (Manhattan and Brooklyn are the expensive ones.) Skip it, and your LLC loses its authority to do business in New York.

The full breakdown is here, including what the notice has to say and how to find the right newspapers for your county.

Step 6: Figure Out Sales Tax Before You Sell Anything

If your business sells physical goods — or certain services in New York — you may be required to collect and remit sales tax from day one. The rule is: you need a Certificate of Authority from New York State before you make your first taxable sale, not after.

This isn’t the same as your income tax registration. It’s a separate filing with the Department of Taxation and Finance. If you’re unsure whether what you sell is taxable, this post covers the New York sales tax rules for small businesses.

Step 7: Set Up Bookkeeping Before Any Money Moves

Seriously — do this before your first client payment, not six months later when you’re trying to reconstruct everything for your tax return.

You don’t need expensive software to start. A dedicated business bank account plus a simple system for tracking income and expenses will get you through year one. What you can’t do is wait until April and try to sort through a year of mixed transactions.

Good records make your return cheaper, your deductions defensible, and an audit survivable. Messy records make all three worse.

The One That Matters Most

Out of everything on this list, the tax election is the decision with the longest financial runway. Get it right early and it compounds in your favor for years. Get it wrong — or never make it — and you’re leaving real money on the table or creating problems you’ll have to pay someone to clean up later.

Run your numbers at the calculator. If the result isn’t clear, call us.

This post is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Tax rules change and individual situations vary. Consult a qualified tax professional before making any decisions about your business structure or tax elections.