Joe Vroman ⋅ Cincinnati, OH Macy's Inc. ⋅ 25 years experience

Hi Greg.....I've created my own business in Ohio and believe me....Ity's very simple. Go to your state's website, or just google "how to create a LLC in Illinois". The first thing you need to do is decide on a name for your company. Once you're at your state's website, you can search to see if anyone else in your state has that same company name. If no one else in the state is doing business under that same name, then you can file a single owner LLC corporation under that name and it legally becomes yours. I'm not sure how much Illinois charges, but in Ohio, I only paid $75.00. It's a one page form and took about 10 minutes to complete. Once I submitted it, I received my LLC certificate in about a week.
Once you have complleted that step, you must get a DUNS numbers (basically it's a social security number for a business). This is how your business will be identified and is used for tax purposes. Again.....just google "how to get a DUNS number". Once you have a company name and have created an LLC entity in the state of Illinois, and you've applied for a received a DUNS number (i got my DUNS number right over the phone), then you're officially in business. The DUNS number is free.
I hope this helps.

David Adler ⋅ Deerfield, IL Adler Law Group ⋅ 20 years experience

Hi Gregory, I am a small business attorney in Chicago. I think you're going in the right direction. I always recommend that a new business start with a business entity. While an LLC is a good start, you may want to look at an "S-corporation." To form a new business you must: 1) file articles of organization (LLC) or articles of incorporation (Corp) with the IL Secretary of State (can be done online at cyberdriveillinois.com); 2) obtain an FEIN (can be done online through IRS.gov); 3) register your business with the IL Dept. of employment security; 4) if you are forming an "S-corporation" you will need to file an S election. Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

Brad Wilder ⋅ Lexington, KY Intech Contracting ⋅ 8 years experience

Joe lays out the process pretty well. One correction though, what you need is a EIN (Employer Identification Number), sometimes called a federal tax ID. However, if you are a sole owner LLC you might not even need that, just you social security number. I like getting and EIN though just to protect my SS from showing up on paperwork. The DUNS number is a totally different thing. This is issued by Dun & Bradstreet for each business location basically for credit reporting purposes. You probably won't need this right now unless you plan on seeking government contracts.

One thing to look out for is to see if your state has a minimum income tax for LLC's. I opened and LLC that I ended up not using (I did freelance work in my own name) and still had to pay $175 a year minimum tax. Not much, but it's money that I could have spent better elsewhere.

Richard Stivers ⋅ Fountain Hills, AZ Deaconess Health System, Inc. ⋅ 32 years experience

Please go to www.score.org or call the Chicago Chapter of SCORE. SCORE is a free and confidential service consisting of 300+ nationwide chapters and over 11,000 volunteers that assist small business start-ups.