Registering a new LLC for federal work: what comes first, in order

In SBA's words, you register your business to make it a distinct legal entity, and how and where depends on its structure and its location. The structure is chosen before the business registers with the state. An LLC will probably need to register with any state where it conducts business activities. Most states take the registration at the Secretary of State's office, a Business Bureau or a Business Agency.

An LLC needs a registered agent in its state before it registers, and the agent has to be located there. The document an LLC submits is usually its articles of organization, which carry the company name, address, member names and the registered agent. SBA's page says an operating agreement is widely recommended, even where a state does not require one. An LLC active in more than one state may form in one state and then register for foreign qualification in the others.

This guide does not advise on forming a company. SBA says business counselors, attorneys and accountants can help with the choice of structure. The registered agent's address is not the business's physical address, which names and addresses that match explains.

The IRS asks for that order. Its page on getting an EIN says that if you are creating a corporation or LLC, you form your entity through the secretary of state before you apply for an EIN, and that an application made before the entity is formed with the state may be delayed. SBA says the same in its own words: apply for an EIN right after you register your business.

The IRS asks for the business entity type and the taxpayer number of the responsible party, the person in control of the business. It says the business name entered must conform to certain formatting rules. SBA says an EIN is needed to open a bank account, among other things.

An EIN is a taxpayer identification number. It is not the Unique Entity ID, and UEI vs EIN sets the two side by side. Never put an EIN in a message, a chat or an email.

Last. The Unique Entity ID is the twelve-character identifier SAM.gov issues for an entity. It comes on its own or as part of a registration. An All Awards registration is the one that lets a business bid on contracts as well as apply for financial assistance.

By then, the LLC's records answer most of what the registration asks: the legal name and physical address, the entity start date as the formation records show it, the fiscal year end, the taxpayer name and number the IRS holds, and the bank account. What to have ready before SAM.gov is the full list.

With Firmenza, you give your answers in the worksheet on the copilot page, one question at a time. We complete your SAM.gov registration from your answers. A Firmenza specialist reviews your application.

Because each check reads an earlier record. SAM.gov compares the legal business name and physical address entered against documentation about the business, and for a business formed with its state the name comes from the formation paperwork. SAM.gov's taxpayer section asks for the name the IRS holds for the taxpayer number, exactly.

So the name on the articles of organization, the name the EIN was issued to and the legal name in the registration are worth comparing before anything is sent. Names and addresses that match and SAM.gov's taxpayer check say what fails and why.

That depends on the business's own facts, such as its size, its ownership and its affiliates, and this guide does not answer it for any business. The card just below this guide names free places to ask, and an attorney can answer it for yours.