The first section requests you to select the filing act of the LLC. This is easy because there is only choice – Filing act 1003 of 1993, which applies to most L.L.C.s.

The next step in filling out the LLC Certificate of Organization is to select a name for your business. Every LLC name needs to be unique from other registered LLCs in the state.

If you aren’t ready to file, you can do an Arkansas LLC name search with the Arkansas Secretary of State to be sure the LLC business name you want is available.

When filling out the business name information, be sure to include the entity designator, which is displayed at the end of the business name. The allowed designator can either be Limited Liability Company, Limited Company, or the abbreviation L.L.C., L.C., LLC, or LC. The word Limited can be abbreviated as Ltd. And the word Company may be abbreviated as Co.

LLCs that perform professional services must instead use the words Professional Limited Liability Company, Professional Limited Company, or the abbreviations P.L.L.C., P.L.C., PLLC, or PLC.

Enter the principal place of business and contact information for the LLC.

The address may be, but is not required to be, the actual place of the business, but it can be the main location where the business records are kept. A physical address must be used as P.O. Boxes are not acceptable.

An Arkansas registered agent is a person or entity that is authorized to receive and accept service of process on behalf of your LLC. You may act as your registered agent or you may authorize an individual outside of the LLC or a registered agent service to act as a registered agent.

A registered agent is required by all Arkansas LLCs and they must be available during normal business hours at a physical address in the state. Provided you live in Arkansas and are available at a specific address, you may act as the LLC’s statutory agent or you may authorize an individual outside of the LLC or you can choose to pay a statutory agent service to act as the registered agent, which not only takes the burden off, but also keeps your name and address private. The registered agent must use a physical street address in Arkansas.

Add the contact information for the organizer and officers in this section.

If there are multiple officers, enter their information and click on Save Officer.

At least one member will enter their information, which may be the same person in the Principal Information and Registered Agent section.

One area that is a bit confusing is the title. Choices include:
– Incorporator/Organizer – A Limited Liability Company Organizer is someone who is involved with the business entity formation. This person may or may not become a member, such as a mentor, attorney, or accountant.
– Manager – A manager in this instance is someone who will be hired by the LLC members to run the business, similar to a CEO of a corporation. This isn’t a common selection, and if a manager is selected, a statement needs to be included in this section.
– Member – The members will be listed here. All of the initial members will also be saved as Incorporator/Organizers.

The submitter’s contact information would be used in case the Secretary of State has any questions regarding the filing and is the address where the final documents should be sent.

Enter the contact information where the annual reports should be sent. This may be the same information as the previous steps.

Related: How to file the Arkansas LLC annual report

The signature of the organizer (Step 5) will be entered in this section.

Additionally, the effective date of the LLC formation can be selected. By default, the effective date is the date the Certificate of Organization is approved by the state. If you want to file the Certificate before starting the business, you can choose a date up to 90 days in the future.

Review the submitted information to ensure it is correct and if so, submit the Certificate of Organization and payment to the Arkansas Secretary of State.