How to Start an LLC in Arizona: The 2026 Step-by-Step

How to start an LLC in Arizona, as of 2026: file the Articles of Organization with the Arizona Corporation Commission and pay the $50 state fee. The filing is the easy part.

Two Arizona-specific steps catch people out: the statutory agent (Arizona’s term for a registered agent) and a publication rule most states don’t have. Both are covered below.

Why an Arizona LLC is cheap to start and cheap to keep

Arizona is genuinely cheap to form in. Fifty dollars gets you filed, and the state doesn’t make LLCs file an annual report or pay a franchise tax. Next to California’s $800 minimum, Arizona LLC formation is light by design.

Two costs can still apply, depending on your setup. If your statutory agent sits outside Maricopa or Pima County, you’ll pay a newspaper to publish. Sell something taxable, and you’ll register for Transaction Privilege Tax. Both are covered below.

One thing Arizona isn’t: a privacy state. Member and manager details on the filing are public record, so it’s no Wyoming or New Mexico. Boost Suite’s view is that Arizona earns its spot when you operate here, not as a paper home run from elsewhere.

How to start an Arizona LLC with the Corporation Commission

Six steps take you from a name to an open bank account. None need a lawyer, and the state fee is the same whether you file it or pay someone to click the buttons.

Step 1: Name your LLC and search the ACC database

Your name needs an LLC designator: limited liability company, L.L.C., LLC, L.C., or LC. It also has to be distinguishable from every name already on the Commission’s records, so run an Arizona business-name search before you choose one.

Skip words like corporation, incorporated, bank, or trust unless you qualify to use them. Licensed professionals form a professional limited liability company, or PLLC, with the matching P.L.L.C. or PLLC designator instead.

Boost Suite’s editors see more Arizona refilings from name conflicts than any other slip, so that search is worth two minutes. Not ready to file? You can reserve the name for 120 days for $10.

Step 2: Appoint an Arizona statutory agent

Arizona calls it a statutory agent, not a registered agent, but the job is identical. It’s a person or company with a physical Arizona address who takes legal mail for your LLC. A PO box won’t do.

Under Arizona law, the agent must be at least 18 and sign a statutory agent acceptance, Form M002. Your LLC can’t serve as its own agent, though a member with an Arizona address can. If you’d rather outsource it, you can compare Arizona statutory agent services and pick a low-cost provider.

Step 3: File the Articles of Organization

This is the formation filing itself. You submit the Articles of Organization, Form L010, through the Arizona Corporation Commission’s LLC filing page. You file online via the Arizona Business Center, the portal that replaced eCorp in January 2026.

The fee is $50 for regular processing, or $85 to expedite. Regular filings currently run about 14 to 16 business days; expedited ones clear in 3 to 5, or the same day for a simple electronic filing. If timing matters, here’s how long Arizona approvals take at each speed.

You’ll also state the management structure: member-managed or manager-managed. Member-managed means the owners run it; manager-managed means you’ve named someone to. Pick what matches how you’ll operate.

Step 4: Write an Arizona operating agreement

Arizona doesn’t require an operating agreement, and you don’t file it with the Commission. The state still recommends keeping one in your records, and there’s a good reason for it.

It sets out who owns what, how profits split, and what happens if a member leaves. Without one, Arizona’s default LLC statutes answer those questions for you. Start from an Arizona operating agreement template and adapt it.

Married couples get a wrinkle here. Because Arizona is a community-property state, a husband-and-wife LLC can choose to be taxed as a disregarded entity or a partnership, a flexibility the IRS allows only in community-property states.

Step 5: Get your EIN from the IRS

Once the LLC exists, get its employer identification number, or EIN, from the IRS. It’s the federal tax ID behind your bank account, payroll, and taxes, and it’s free directly from the IRS EIN application.

Form the LLC first, then apply using the LLC’s exact legal name from your Articles. From there, you can get your EIN sorted in a single sitting.

Step 6: Register for TPT and open a business bank account

A Transaction Privilege Tax license isn’t tied to being an LLC; it’s tied to what you sell. If your activity falls under Arizona’s taxable TPT classifications, register with the Arizona Department of Revenue before you start. Some services are taxable and some aren’t, so check your classification rather than assume.

Then open a business bank account in the LLC’s name, using your EIN and a copy of the approved Articles. Keeping business and personal money apart is what protects the liability shield you just filed for.

What an Arizona LLC costs: $50 to file, no annual fee

The number behind every how much is an LLC in Arizona search is simple. It’s $50 to file, or $85 to expedite, and that’s the only required cost to form one, as of 2026.

After that, the recurring cost is close to nothing. There’s no annual report fee, so the only ongoing state costs are publication, if it applies, and TPT, if your activity is taxable. For the full picture, including expedite tiers and agent pricing, here’s the complete Arizona LLC cost breakdown.

Publication in Arizona: 60 days, unless your agent is in Maricopa or Pima

Here’s the step that surprises out-of-state founders: Arizona’s publication requirement. Within 60 days of approval, you publish notice three consecutive times in a newspaper of general circulation in your statutory agent’s county. The rule lives in Arizona Revised Statutes 29-3201.

There’s a large exception. If your statutory agent’s address is in Maricopa or Pima County, the Commission posts the notice on its own website and you owe a newspaper nothing. Those two counties hold most of the state’s population, so plenty of LLCs skip the bill.

The newspaper sets the price, so there’s no fixed statewide cost. Pick a paper from the ACC’s Newspaper Listing for Publishing, then keep the Affidavit of Publication it sends you; filing that with the Commission is optional.

Ongoing costs after you form: no annual report, but watch TPT

The part owners from other states miss about Arizona LLC annual fees: there aren’t any. Arizona doesn’t make LLCs file an annual report with the Commission, so there’s no yearly form and no yearly fee. Only corporations file those here. Worth confirming against Arizona’s annual report rules if you’re moving from a state that charges one.

The one cost that recurs for some LLCs is Transaction Privilege Tax, Arizona’s version of a sales tax. If your business activity is taxable, you collect and remit TPT through the Arizona Department of Revenue, and there’s a license to set up first.

A caveat sits underneath that. If your LLC elects corporate tax treatment, Arizona’s corporate income tax can apply, currently the greater of $50 or 4.9% of net income, as of 2026. For the default pass-through LLC, it doesn’t come up.

Where Arizona filings go wrong: wrong office, missed publication, TPT mix-ups

A few errors cause most Arizona refilings, and they’re the Arizona LLC requirements people skim past. The biggest is filing with the Arizona Secretary of State. That office handles trade names, not LLC formation, which runs through the Corporation Commission.

Close behind is the publication slip: missing the 60-day window, or paying a newspaper when a Maricopa or Pima address made it free. Another is treating the $50 filing fee and TPT as the same thing. They’re unrelated; one forms the LLC, the other taxes your sales.

If you’d rather not risk it, you can weigh our take on Arizona LLC filing services against filing yourself. Most single-owner LLCs can file directly with the ACC; the exceptions worth a professional’s eye are tax elections, foreign qualification, or a licensed profession.

Questions Arizona founders actually ask

A few things come up on almost every Arizona filing. Here are the straight answers.