Within the great state of New York, a Limited Liability Company (LLC) is considered as a hybrid business entity. This is because it seeks to combine the simplicity provisions found in a sole proprietorship and/or partnership with a semblance of the liability protection found in a corporation. The registration process of an LLC in New York is also relatively simple, cheap, and straightforward with minimized hidden charges. The office of the Secretary of State provides the simple steps necessary for the registration of an LLC therein (NYS Dept. of State, 2017) . There are two available options; an online registration as well as hard copy based registration. There are also modest payments applicable both for the registration itself as well as for the publication thereof.
The procedure for registration of an LLC in New York is relatively simple as aforesaid and most applicants can be able to undertake it themselves. The state department, however, advises that it also amounts to entering into a binding covenant-like contract with the state. Having legal advice during the process is, therefore, recommended but is not a fundamental requirement. The first step sounds deceptively easy and entails selecting a name for the LLC. The name must include the statement “limited liability company ” but the abbreviation LLC or L.L.C are also acceptable (NYS Dept. of State, 2017) . The harder part is, the name must not be in conflict with another registered entity, a fact that is confirmed through reserving the name with the New York Department of State. The Department will indicate whether or not the said name is available. The available name might still be declined if it contains forbidden words or words disallowed by a local or federal authority. The second step is to file the Articles of Organization that contains inter alia the filer, the LLC name, location for process service and county of operation.
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The filing of the Articles will be accompanied by a filing fee of US$200 payable by cash, check, money order or electronic payment. The Articles can also be mailed or sent electronically, accompanied by an electronic payment, check or money order (NYS Dept. of State, 2017) . The successful filling of the Articles completes the process of registration of an LLC, however, to continue with operations in most businesses, a separate licensing procedure is necessary. Further, within 120 days of the said filing, the Articles need to be published, at the cost of the filer in a newspaper recognized by the Department of state for six consecutive weeks. The Affidavit of Advertising from the newspaper should then be filed at the aforesaid department , together with a fee of US$50 (NYS Dept. of State, 2017) . Failure to adhere to this will lead to suspension of the LLC.
The pro et contra of an LLC is extremely complex since it is a hybrid organization. For example, the running of the LLC is split amongst the members depending on the percentages of ownership (Sargent & Schwidetzky, 2014) . This has been defined as an advantage yet in some instances it may appear as a disadvantage. Limitation of liability is also mainly considered as an advantage because an individual cannot face liability due to the liabilities of the company. The inverse is, however, also true since a member who has financial troubles cannot revert to the assets of the LLC for a reprieve . One absolute disadvantage of the LLC lies in the fact that the members cannot draw wages, no matter how hard they work for the LLC. This is very unfair, more so when some members place a higher labor input than others. A major advantage, however, is the tax regime since the company has no direct tax liabilities with every member being accountable for taxes to their own income from the LLC (Sargent & Schwidetzky, 2014) .
References
NYS Dept. of State. (2017). Forming a limited liability company in New York State. Retrieved July 22, 2017, from https://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/llcguide.html
Sargent, M., & Schwidetzky, W. D. (2014). Limited liability company handbook, 2014-2015 Edition . New York: Thomson Reuters
