How to Start an LLC in Arizona (2026 Guide)

Forming an Arizona LLC takes four core moves: pick a name the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) will accept, appoint a statutory agent, file Articles of Organization (the state fee is $50, or $85 with expedited processing, as of October 2026), and complete any newspaper publication the ACC tells you is required. After that, you’ll want an operating agreement, an EIN and the right tax licenses.

Arizona is one of the cheaper states to form in, and there’s no annual report for LLCs. The one cost that catches people out is publication, which depends on the county where the business or its statutory agent is located.

Updated October 2026.

Best LLC Formation Services in Arizona (2026)

Our ranked picks for forming an LLC in Arizona are below, starting with Mainstay Filing. Each entry lists the yearly price and what the service covers.

1. Mainstay Filing

Mainstay Filing is our top pick in Arizona. It costs $199/year + state fee at cost and covers lLC formation filing, registered agent for the year, EIN application, annual report preparation and filing. The price stays the same every year, with no add-on menu.

2. AZ Registered Agent.org

AZ Registered Agent.org is a Arizona registered agent service at $99/year. It provides $99 per year, flat; in-state street address for the registered office; legal documents served on the company are scanned and sent to the owner online. It’s a fit if you only need a registered agent rather than full formation help.

3. Arizona Registered Agent.co

Arizona Registered Agent.co is a Arizona registered agent service at $99/year. It provides in-state street address for the registered office; legal documents served on the company are scanned and sent to the owner online. It’s a fit if you only need a registered agent rather than full formation help.

Arizona LLC facts at a glance

Every fee above comes from the ACC’s LLC fee schedule (revised March 2026). Mainstay Filing’s Arizona cost breakdown lays out the same state fees next to its own pricing.

Step 1: Name your Arizona LLC

Arizona requires the name to include “limited liability company,” “limited company,” or an abbreviation such as “L.L.C.,” “L.C.,” “LLC” or “LC.” The name also has to be distinguishable from every other entity name already on the ACC’s records.

Start broad. If you only have a rough idea of what the business does, run a few keywords through the namechk business name generator and shortlist the names you like. Then check each one in the ACC’s entity search; our Arizona business name search walkthrough shows how to read the results.

A few more checks are worth the ten minutes:

• Search the USPTO trademark database so a federal registrant can’t force a rebrand later.
• See whether the .com and social media handles are free with namechk.
• If you’re not ready to file, reserve the name with the ACC for $10. The reservation lasts 120 days and can’t be renewed.

Step 2: Appoint a statutory agent

Arizona calls the registered agent a “statutory agent.” The ACC’s FAQ is blunt about it: every LLC must appoint and maintain one at all times, and an LLC that goes without one can be administratively dissolved. The agent needs an Arizona address where legal papers can be delivered, and a new agent must sign a Statutory Agent Acceptance that goes in with the filing that appoints them.

You can name yourself, a member, or a friend who lives in Arizona. The practical question is whether that person will be at the address during business hours, every business day, for as long as the LLC exists. If the answer is “probably not,” use a professional agent. Mainstay Filing bundles a year of statutory agent service into its formation package, and our Arizona registered agent guide compares the options in more depth.

Step 3: File Articles of Organization with the ACC

The ACC strongly recommends filing online through the Arizona Business Center, which checks required fields as you go. Paper filers can use the Articles of Organization form from the ACC’s LLC forms page.

Have these details ready:

1. The LLC name exactly as you want it to appear
2. Statutory agent name and Arizona address, plus the signed acceptance
3. The LLC’s known place of business
4. Whether the LLC is member-managed or manager-managed, with the names and addresses of the managers, or of the members if there are no managers
5. An organizer’s signature

Regular processing costs $50. Expedited processing raises it to $85, and the ACC also sells accelerated next-day ($100), same-day ($200) and 2-hour ($400) services for most filing types.

Step 4: Check whether you must publish

Publication is the step that makes Arizona different. Under A.R.S. section 29-3201, a new LLC must publish notice of its Articles within 60 days, unless its statutory agent’s street address is in a county with more than 800,000 residents, which means Maricopa and Pima counties. The ACC says it notifies filers by letter after approval if publication is required.

If it does, follow the instructions in that letter and choose a newspaper that is approved for legal notices in the right county. Newspaper charges aren’t set by the state, so get a quote before you place the notice, and keep the proof of publication with your records.

Step 5: Put an operating agreement in writing

An operating agreement isn’t filed with the ACC, which also means nobody checks whether you have one. That’s exactly why owners skip it, and why disputes get messy later. A written agreement should cover ownership percentages, capital contributions, how decisions are made, how profits are distributed and what happens when a member wants out.

Even a one-person Arizona LLC should have one. Banks often ask to see it, and it helps demonstrate that the LLC is run as a separate business.

Step 6: Get an EIN and set up taxes

Apply for an Employer Identification Number on the IRS website. It’s free, and you’ll need it for a business bank account, for payroll and, for multi-member LLCs, for the partnership tax return.

Arizona’s sales tax is technically a transaction privilege tax (TPT) on the seller. If your LLC sells taxable goods or services, it generally needs a TPT license from the Arizona Department of Revenue, and employers must also register for state withholding and unemployment insurance.

At the federal level, FinCEN’s BOI page says U.S.-formed companies are exempt from beneficial ownership reporting under the final rule effective August 2026.

Step 7: Licenses and ongoing upkeep

Arizona has no general statewide business license, but cities and towns often require their own, and many trades need a professional license from a state board. Check with your city before opening and with any licensing board that covers your industry.

Ongoing compliance is light. Arizona LLCs don’t file annual reports, so the main tasks are keeping a statutory agent in place, updating the ACC when the agent or addresses change (a $5 statement), and staying current on TPT and income tax filings.

Arizona LLC FAQs

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