After your LLC is approved
Written by the filing team at FastBusinessFiling. Reviewed .
Approval means the company legally exists. It doesn't mean you can bank, invoice or hire yet. The order that avoids rework is: get the EIN from the IRS (free, minutes, needs the approved name exactly as filed), open a business bank account with the EIN and the approval document, sign an operating agreement even as a single member, then check what licences your city, county and industry require — that's the layer people forget, because it has nothing to do with the state that formed you. Finally, find your annual report deadline and put it somewhere you'll see it. That last one takes two minutes and is the single most common reason companies get dissolved.
The short version
- EIN first. Almost everything else asks for it.
- Business bank account second, and use it for everything. Mixing money undermines the LLC.
- Local and industry licences are separate from formation and nobody reminds you.
- Calendar the annual report the week you form, not the month it's due.
- Beneficial ownership reporting rules have changed repeatedly — check FinCEN directly rather than trusting an article.
1. Get the EIN
The EIN is the company's federal tax ID and it's the key to nearly everything downstream. The IRS issues it free, in minutes, through its own online application, to anyone with an SSN or ITIN.
Apply after the state's approval, not before, and enter the legal name exactly as the state recorded it — including whether it ends in LLC, L.L.C. or Limited Liability Company. A mismatch here surfaces later at a bank, and by then it's a correction rather than a form.
If nobody in the company has an SSN or ITIN, the online route is closed and the application goes by fax instead. That's a different process with its own quirks.
2. Open the business bank account
Take the state's approval document, the EIN confirmation letter, your operating agreement and your ID. Banks vary in what they insist on; those four cover most of them.
Then use it for everything. Every dollar in, every dollar out, and pay yourself by transferring from the business account to your personal one rather than by buying personal things with the business card.
This is not bookkeeping fussiness. Running business money through a personal account is the single most effective way to convince a court your LLC isn't really separate from you, which is precisely the argument the LLC exists to defeat.
3. Sign the operating agreement
If there's more than one of you, do this before the first disagreement rather than after it — ownership split, decision rights, what happens when someone leaves.
If you're the only member it's short, and it's still worth having as evidence that the company is a real, separate thing. We include a template with every formation.
4. Licences, which are a different layer entirely
Forming an LLC gives you an entity. It does not give you permission to do the specific thing you do, in the specific place you do it. That permission comes from up to four separate places: a general business licence from your city or county, a state professional or occupational licence for regulated trades, an industry-specific permit, and a sales tax registration if you sell taxable goods.
Nobody joins these up for you, and the state that approved your LLC will not mention them. The reliable way through is to ask your city or county clerk what a business like yours needs at that address, then check your state's licensing agency for your trade.
5. Calendar the annual report, now
Find your state's deadline and put it in the calendar you actually look at, with a reminder a month ahead. Some states use one fixed date for everyone, some run from your formation anniversary, and a few are biennial — the biennial ones are missed most, because a whole year passes with nothing due.
Missing it starts a slow sequence: a late fee, then loss of good standing, then administrative dissolution. None of it is loud, and the notices go to your registered agent's address.
A word on beneficial ownership reporting
The Corporate Transparency Act created a federal beneficial ownership filing with FinCEN, and the requirements for domestic companies have been changed, paused and revised more than once since it took effect. Any article stating today's rule with confidence — including this one — risks being out of date by the time you read it.
So the honest instruction is: check FinCEN's own beneficial ownership information page for the current position before assuming you do or don't have a filing to make. It's a federal question rather than a state one, and it's not part of what your state approval covered.
Common questions
Legally, the moment the state approves the filing. Practically, once you have the EIN and a bank account, which is usually a few days if nothing needs correcting.
Often yes. Plenty of cities require a home occupation permit or a general business licence regardless of where the desk is. It's a local question and the local clerk is the fastest way to a real answer.
You can, and it's the most common early mistake. It's the fact pattern that gets used to argue the company and the owner are the same thing, which is the one argument the LLC was bought to prevent.
The IRS can correct it, generally by letter, and it's easier to fix before a bank has the mismatched pair on file. Compare the EIN letter against the state approval as soon as it arrives.
Yes — the annual report and any state minimum are usually due whether or not you traded, and you may still have a tax filing obligation. Dormant is not the same as exempt.
Keep reading
FastBusinessFiling is a document filing service operated by Fast Filing Group LLC. We are not a law firm or an accounting firm, and nothing here is legal or tax advice. Rules and fees change; where this page states a figure, it carries the date it was checked. For advice about your own situation, talk to a licensed attorney or CPA.