The pre-launch legal checklist

The three things people conflate

• An LLC, an EIN, and a registered agent are three different things: the LLC is the legal entity your state creates; the EIN is the federal tax ID the IRS issues; the registered agent is the person or company that receives legal mail for the entity at a street address in the formation state.
• Every state requires an LLC to name a registered agent — it can be the owner in many states, or a paid service.
• The IRS issues EINs for free at irs.gov if you apply yourself; services (including ours, at $75) charge for doing the application for you.

What formation actually costs

• State filing fees for an LLC range from about $45 (Arkansas) to $520 (Massachusetts) — everyone pays the state's fee no matter who files.
• “$0 formation” offers make their money on what renews later — registered-agent service commonly renews at $199–$249/yr at the big brands. Ask any provider what year 2 costs before you pay for year 1.
• Most states also charge a recurring fee to keep an LLC alive (often called an annual report or franchise tax) — the amount and due date vary by state.

Paperwork facts that surprise first-time founders

• An operating agreement usually isn't filed with the state, but banks and payment processors frequently ask for one when you open a business account.
• A business bank account separate from your personal account is how the “limited liability” bookkeeping stays clean — commingling funds is the classic mistake.
• Your city or county may have its own rules on top of state law: home-occupation permits, zoning restrictions, sign rules, and local business licenses all exist below the state line. (This is the layer Corpus is built to search — with citations.)

If you shipped it with AI, read this twice

• Only 10.5% of AI-generated code passed a security review in a CMU study — shipping fast usually means shipping unguarded.
• A scan of 5,600 vibe-coded apps found 2,000+ vulnerabilities and 400+ exposed secrets (Escape.tech). Rotate any key that has ever appeared in a commit; move secrets to environment variables.
• If your app collects user data, a terms-of-service and privacy page is table stakes for payment processors and app stores — and it's where your entity's legal name goes once you have one.

Ready to make it official?

Corpus forms your LLC in any U.S. state at one flat all-in price — registered agent year included, renewal stated before you pay, and a human approves your exact filing.