The first question asks whether you are forming a professional service company. Services that are licensed by the state, such as accountants, attorneys, physical therapists, etc., will need to file for a Professional LLC and include a specific professional designator in their LLC name.

If your business isn’t regulated by the state, select “No.”

Next you will choose the name for your LLC.

When forming an LLC in Colorado, you must choose a unique name for your business that is not already being used by another company. You can do a Colorado LLC name search on the Secretary of State’s name database to see if your desired name is available.

The name of a Colorado Limited Liability Company must also include one of the following entity designators at the end of the name:
– Limited Liability Company
– Ltd. Liability Company
– Limited Liability Co.
– Ltd. Liability Co.
– Limited
– L.L.C.
– LLC
– Ltd.

If you have an LLC name picked out, but are not quite ready to file the Colorado LLC Articles of Organization, you can reserve a name for up to 120 days by filing the Statement of Reservation of Name form.

The Articles of Organization must include the LLC’s principal office address. In this section, enter a physical street address, city, and zip cost of the LLC’s initial office address. This address can be the LLC’s physical address, or it can be the address where the business records are stored. You may not use a Post Office Box for the designated office address.

A mailing address can optionally be added if you prefer to have mail go to an address that is different from the principal office address. A PO Box is acceptable in this section.

Every Colorado LLC must have a registered agent who is responsible for receiving legal documents on behalf of the LLC. The registered agent must be a Colorado resident or a business with a physical office in Colorado.

You can either appoint an individual such as yourself as the registered agent or appoint someone else, such as a friend, family member, or an entity such as a professional service. The main requirement to be a Colorado registered agent is that they have a physical address and are generally available at that address during normal business hours.

The registered agent must provide verbal or written consent to be appointed as the registered agent. To confirm their consent, check the box.

Enter the registered agent’s name and move to the next step.

The next step provides information regarding whether the LLC is Manager-Managed or Member-Managed.

A Member-Managed LLC is involved with the day-to-day operations of the business. Many LLCs are operated and run by the business owner, in which case would be Member-Managed.
A Manager-Managed LLC refers to a Limited Liability Company that hires a manager to run the business, similar to hiring a CEO of a corporation.

Related: What’s the difference between Member-Managed and Manager Managed?

Next, confirm that at least one member of the LLC has checked the box.

Next, enter the name and mailing address of the LLC organizer(s) who are forming the entity. This can be an individual, entity (such as an LLC formation service), trust, state or other jurisdiction, or an estate.

If you are filling out this document to start an LLC, individual will normally be selected. If there will be more than one LLC member, click on the Yes button to include the names of all members.

If there are additional items you wish to include regarding the formation of the LLC (not common), attach them in this section.

Some filers will delay the effective date (starting date) of the LLC if they aren’t ready to start the business, but want the filing out of the way or if they are close to the end of a calendar year.

To choose today’s date for the start date of the LLC, select Yes, otherwise choose No. The start date of the LLC can be delayed for up to 90 days.

The person filing the document, often the organizer. On this step, the filer will affirm they have read and agree to the statement.

The filer can opt into email and/or text notifications.

I would recommend doing this to receive important information regarding the LLC, especially for the reminder to file the Colorado periodic report.

Double-check the submitted information for errors. If everything checks out, submit payment and the Articles of Organization will be filed. Be sure to print a copy of the approved Articles of Organization for your records.

File and pay to submit the Articles of Organization to the Colorado Secretary of State.