We handle the formation filings, the EIN, and the books behind them, so your new company starts clean instead of getting cleaned up later.
Most people forming an LLC get the filing done and stop there. The certificate arrives, and nothing else changes. No bank account set up properly, no chart of accounts, no record of who owns what. Six months later a lender asks for financials and there is nothing to hand over.
Baum's Accounting Services files Kentucky LLCs for owners around Lexington and across Central Kentucky, then sets up the accounting side in the same stretch of work. Baum's Accounting Services is built on 18 years of bookkeeping, controller, and CFO work, so we have seen what a sloppy formation costs a company two years later. The filing is the easy part. What comes after it is the part that decides how the business runs.
Kentucky LLCs are registered through the Secretary of State. You pick a name that is not already taken, name a registered agent with a real Kentucky street address, file articles of organization, and pay the state's filing fee. That part usually moves quickly. The pieces that trip people up come next: getting the EIN under the right responsible party, opening a bank account that does not commingle personal money, putting an operating agreement in place that says what happens if a member leaves, and registering with the Department of Revenue if you will have payroll or collect sales tax. We handle the filings and the paperwork, and when a question turns legal, we coordinate with your attorney rather than guessing at it.
An LLC fits most small operating businesses. Single owner, a couple of partners, a construction company with trucks and crews, a clinic, a retail shop. Handled properly, it helps keep business liability separate from your house and your savings, and it does not force you into corporate formalities like a board or annual minutes. It is flexible on how profits get split, which matters when two partners put in different amounts of money and time. Where an LLC starts to strain is when you plan to bring in outside investors, issue different classes of stock, or grant equity to employees on a schedule. Those situations usually point toward a corporation, and it is worth knowing that before you file rather than after.
A filed set of articles does not run a business. The week after your LLC is registered, there is a short list of things that decide whether your books are usable a year from now. Getting the chart of accounts right the first time saves a painful cleanup. So does deciding, on day one, how owner draws and reimbursements get recorded. We set this up in QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, Sage, or NetSuite, depending on what fits the size and the industry, and we stay on as your bookkeeper if you want that.
There are a handful of reasons to wait a week. If you are converting an existing sole proprietorship, the timing of the switch affects payroll and how the year gets reported. If you have partners, the ownership split needs to be settled in writing before money moves, not after the first argument. If you already know you want the LLC taxed as an S corporation, that election has its own timing and its own payroll obligations, and it makes sense to decide that up front. Baum's Accounting Services does not prepare income tax returns, so where the return work starts, we bring in your tax professional or refer you to an outside CPA firm.
Online filings with the Secretary of State are usually processed quickly, and mailed filings take longer. Processing times move around, so nobody should promise you an exact date. The bigger delay is normally on your end: picking a name that clears, deciding on the registered agent, and settling ownership percentages if there is more than one member.
Not always, but it usually helps. A single member LLC keeps business liability separate from your personal assets and makes the business look real to banks and general contractors. If you are testing an idea with no contracts and no employees, a sole proprietorship may be enough for now. Book a consultation and We will tell you straight which one your situation calls for.
Yes, and that is the usual arrangement. We file the formation paperwork, get the EIN, and set up your books in QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, or NetSuite so the first month of transactions lands in the right place. From there we can stay on as your bookkeeper or controller. We work on site around Lexington and virtually for clients elsewhere in Kentucky.
Other work in this area that tends to come up in the same conversation.
The election has real payroll consequences once it's made. Filing gets handled, and so does the conversation about whether it fits your numbers.
Read moreIncorporation paperwork, EIN, and initial filings for businesses that need outside investors or more than one class of stock.
Read moreYour federal tax ID, applied for and confirmed. Nothing else moves without it, so it happens early rather than at the last minute.
Read moreBook a consultation and we will map out a first step you can actually act on.
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