The Arkansas Limited Liability Company Act is a document that officially recognizes your limited liability company in the state of Arkansas. In order to receive it, you must file your Articles of Organizations, either online or by mail. If you do it online, it costs $45 and will take two to three days to be approved. Should you choose to do it by mail, the fee will be $50 and approval will take one to two weeks.

Registering Your LLC Online

Filing online is a great way to proceed if you need fast approval for your limited liability company. It only takes a few days, and you can pay by sending a check or money order to the Arkansas Secretary of State. Here are the steps for filing your Article of Organization:

  • Access the website: https://www.ark.org/sos/ofs/docs/index.php.
  • Scroll down until you find “Domestic Limited Liability Company.”
  • Under that section, you will find the form that needs to be filled. The receipt, a copy of your Article of Organization, and the Certificate of Approval will then be sent back to you. The last two will be officially stamped and sealed, while the Certificate of Approval also has a state seal and can be used to open the company's bank account.

Naming Regulations for Limited Liability Companies

Each LLC must have the words “Limited Liability Company,” “Limited Company,” or any form of abbreviation of the two. The name must be unique to any other name that's been registered with the Secretary of State. This rule does not apply if the applicant proves that a court of law has declared that the desired name can be used within the state.

If the company performs professional services, then it must also have the word “professional” next to “Limited Liability Company,” “Limited Company,” or any form of abbreviation of the two. The name also cannot contain the name of anyone who is not a member of the organization. Exceptions can be made for former members.

Submitting Your Articles of Organization Request

The first thing you need to do is enter the name of your organization, respecting the rules in the segment above.

Enter the company's main address that will be used by the state for regular mail. Any street address in Arkansas can be used. However, P.O. boxes are not allowed. If you use a Registered Agent, the address of that Registered Agent must be entered. It needs to be a street within the state of Arkansas as well. The document must then be signed and dated on the first page.

On page two, you'll find the Franchise Tax Contract Information that is needed in order to receive Franchise Tax reminders each year. You will then need to fill out the name of a manager or a company member and also of an organizer, or the person who is filling the documents. If the two are the same person, you will need to complete the same info twice.

The next step is choosing an “effective date,” which is essentially the date from which your LLC will officially be created. It can be dated forward for as much as 90 days from the time you file the document. After reviewing the accuracy of the entire document, you can select the payment method and click “Confirm” to submit your request.

Tax Requirements For Your Limited Liability Company

A franchise tax report must be submitted each year by Arkansas LLCs by May the 1st in the year after the company is formed and annually for the years after that. The required fee is $150.

Companies with employees require a Federal tax identification number. It's also usually needed when opening a company bank account. If the company is foreign, in addition to the Application for Certificate of Registration of Limited Liability Company, you must also submit a Certificate of Good Standing with the Arkansas Business and Commercial Services. The certificate of good standing is issued by the company's home state and must be 30 days old at most when it is filed.

In any situation, once the Articles of Organization is issued by the state of Arkansas, you are legally free to do business within the state lines.

If you need help with filing your Arkansas Limited Liability Company Act, you can post your legal need on UpCounsel's marketplace. UpCounsel accepts only the top five percent of lawyers to its site. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies like Google, Menlo Ventures, and Airbnb.