The US Small Business Administration has reported that there were 32.5 million small businesses in the US in the year 2021. This means that there are an enormous number of businesses that are constantly in competition with one another.

Many of these businesses are LLCs and many of these LLCs make use of LLC services. These services provide a number of functions for LLC owners which include business formation, registered agent services and annual report services. These services tend to be accompanied by a small fee, but the fee may well be worth the convenience of having a company take care of a certain obligation for a small business.

Soft Skills all Startup Employees Need

Organization

Organizational skills are important for any entrepreneur, and their employees, to possess. Startups require rigorous planning and, often, copious amounts of documents. In order to have clarity and an effective game plan, startups need to be organized at every level of their company. In this way, organizational skills not only affect the physical ability to organize documents, but the ability to organize plans, events, and business structures.

Communication

Communication is a key skill for any and every person to have, but it is even more pertinent for startup employees and entrepreneurs to be clear and effective with their communication. By learning this soft skill, entrepreneurs will be able to delegate, strategize and inspire, and employees will be able to interact harmoniously with their team members.

Problem Solving

For businesses of all sizes - problems, errors, and issues will arise. For owners and employees, problem solving is a vital skill to learn in order to tackle minor and more complex issues. Problem solving provides entrepreneurs and employees the ability to level headedly engage with obstacles, and form coherent and productive solutions to them.

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Business Formation

One of the most common services offered by LLC service providers is business formation. This means that an LLC owner can pay to have their business formed for them and not need to worry about handling the paperwork or the administration of this process. These LLC services range in price from free to roughly $150 depending on the service provider which a business owner decides to choose. Some service providers will also throw in a year of free registered agent services on top of the business formation.

Some LLC service providers offer business formation services for free. This can be a proposition which seems too good to be true. However, this is not the case. These services will often sell additional services during the business formation process and will often charge for registered agent services instead of throwing in a free year like some other services. Additionally, LLC services on the pricier side tend to have some kind of unique selling point to make their services more interesting for entrepreneurs. This can include advice from trained professionals, additional administrative assistance and quality customer service.

Registered Agent Services

A registered agent is the person or company that receives important documents for an LLC from the state. Every LLC in every U.S. state is legally required to maintain a registered agent if they wish to be legally compliant. A registered agent must have a non-PO Box address in the state in which the business is formed. Additionally, a registered agent is expected to be available every business day of the year in case they are needed to receive documentation. A registered agent also has their address on public record which means that anyone can access it. A registered agent service is highly recommended because of these reasons.

A registered agent service is also highly beneficial when an entrepreneur does not reside in the same state in which they have established their business. This can be the case for a number of reasons and one of the most common reasons for establishing a business out of a home state is for a more favorable tax climate. Many entrepreneurs are drawn to states with no corporate income tax like Texas and Wyoming so that they can mitigate their tax obligations. In such an example it would be a requirement to use a registered agent service.

Annual Reports

LLCs in most U.S. states are legally required to submit an annual report every year. Some states only require this every two years, while some states do not require this at all. As a result, the necessity of an annual report service will depend heavily on the state in which a business is located. An annual report is much like a census for businesses instead of individuals. This helps states to keep an accurate record of the businesses which are operating within the state. It also helps states to make sure they have up-to-date contact information of a business in the case that the state needs to contact a business.

This obligation can be taken care of for a business by an LLC service provider. The LLC service will fill out and submit the annual report on behalf of a business and take care of the administrative requirements in this regard. However, an LLC will still need to pay for the state fees which may or may not be charged by the state. This is the same as for business formation where the LLC owner or owners will need to cover the state fees in addition to the fees of the LLC service. These fees tend to be small and business owners will have to pay these fees irrespective of whether they decide to use an LLC service.

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Final Thoughts

LLCs should make use of an LLC service because of the wide array of responsibilities and requirements which these services can perform for business owners. Business formation can be intimidating especially for first time entrepreneurs and an LLC service will ensure that this process is handled correctly and completed the first time around. The demands placed on a registered agent can be overly onerous and a registered agent service can be hugely beneficial in this regard. Finally, the obligation of filing an annual report can be taken care of for an LLC using an LLC service. This reduces stress on LLC owners at the end of the year and gives them more time to focus on more important tasks.

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