Domestic LLC Formation Filing Requirements in Ohio

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and filing record

Ohio uses Articles of Organization under the Ohio Revised Limited Liability Company Act. Ohio Rev. Code § 1706.02 supplies the Act's name, and § 1706.16 requires delivery of the articles to the Secretary of State for filing.

This row covers an ordinary domestic LLC, not a professional, regulated, foreign, or series company.

Organizer and signature

Under § 1706.16(A), one or more persons execute the articles. Ohio Rev. Code § 1706.17(A)-(B) requires at least one person to sign and also permits an agent, including an attorney-in-fact, to sign. The organizer provision does not condition that role on becoming a member or owner.

Required entity and purpose terms

The ordinary articles state the LLC's name. Under § 1706.07(A)-(B), the name uses “limited liability company,” “L.L.C.,” “LLC,” “limited,” “ltd.,” or “ltd” and must satisfy the distinguishability rule in § 1706.07(B).

The exhaustive required-content list in § 1706.16(A) does not require a purpose or duration statement. Ohio instead gives an LLC perpetual duration under § 1706.04(B).

Addresses and service fields

Section 1706.16(A)(2) requires the statutory agent's name and street address plus the agent's signed written acceptance. Ohio Rev. Code § 1706.09(B)-(C) makes the appointment and acceptance conditions of acceptance for filing and requires an Ohio street-and-number address for the individual agent's primary residence or the entity agent's usual place of business.

Agent eligibility, later changes, resignation, and lapse consequences belong in the registered-agent survey.

Management and owner disclosure

Section 1706.16(A)'s required-content list asks for no manager, member, or owner name, address, management election, or ownership percentage for an ordinary LLC. The public formation filing therefore does not identify who owns or manages the company merely because of that status.

Optional and restricted provisions

Section 1706.16(A)(4) permits any other matters that the organizers or members determine to include. The statute separately requires a § 1706.761(B)(3) series statement only when applicable; this ordinary non-series row does not use it.

Filing method, fee, and attachments

The current Secretary of State forms page offers online filing through Ohio Business Central and paper Form 610, revised September 2025. The base fee is $99, independently fixed by § 111.16(F).

The statutory-agent appointment and signed acceptance accompany the articles. For a permitted paper filing, § 1706.172(A)(2) requires typewritten or machine-printed text; that matches Form 610's “Form Must Be Typed” instruction.

Formation and effective date

Under § 1706.16(B), the LLC forms when the Secretary of State files the articles or at a later date or time stated in them. The general filing rule in § 1706.172(D) limits a delayed effective date to 90 days after receipt.

If the filing states a delayed date but no time, it takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on the earlier of that date or the ninetieth day after filing.

Publication and initial follow-up

The exhaustive formation-content statute and current ordinary Form 610 impose no newspaper or database publication, proof-of-publication filing, or initial report. The Secretary of State's LLC guide separately confirms that Ohio LLCs do not submit annual or biennial filings, so no recurring report begins in an initial cycle.

What trips people up

The agent must sign the acceptance. Naming an agent and address is not the whole formation package. Sections 1706.16(A)(2) and § 1706.09(B) require the designated agent's written acceptance with the original filing.

The 90-day cap sits in the filing-mechanics section. Section 1706.16(B) says the articles may name a later date or time, but § 1706.172(D) supplies the maximum delay and the fallback effective-time rules.

The articles do not double as an ownership filing. Ohio's minimum public record does not name managers, members, or owners. Those roles may be addressed elsewhere, but they are not added to ordinary articles by § 1706.16(A).

Common questions

What if the articles state a date more than 90 days later? Section 1706.172(D)(3)-(4) makes the record effective no later than the ninetieth day, using the stated time when one is supplied and 12:01 a.m. when it is not.

Must an attorney-in-fact's power of attorney be filed with the articles? No. Section 1706.17(B) expressly says a power relating to the signature need not be delivered to the Secretary of State.

Statutes and sources

• Ohio Rev. Code §§ 1706.02 and 1706.04 — Act name, separate-entity status, and perpetual duration. https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-1706.02 (accessed 2026-07-29)
• Ohio Rev. Code §§ 1706.07 and 1706.16 — name rules, organizer execution, required and optional article contents, and formation event. https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-1706.16 (accessed 2026-07-29)
• Ohio Rev. Code §§ 1706.09 and 1706.17 — agent appointment and acceptance, article signature, agent signature, and power-of-attorney filing rule. https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-1706.17 (accessed 2026-07-29)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 1706.172 — record format, electronic filing authority, 90-day delayed-date limit, and effective-time rules. https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-1706.172 (accessed 2026-07-29)
• Ohio Rev. Code § 111.16(F) — $99 articles fee. https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-111.16 (accessed 2026-07-29)
• Ohio Secretary of State, Form 610, filing-forms page, and LLC guide — current form revision, online and paper routes, typed-form instruction, fee, and absence of annual or biennial reports. https://www.ohiosos.gov/assets/610.pdf (accessed 2026-07-29)