LLC Formation Cost

Editorial Policy

llcformationcost.com is an independent research site documenting the cost of forming and maintaining an LLC across all 50 US states + DC. This page describes our editorial standards and the processes we follow to keep the data trustworthy.

Sourcing standards

Every fee, rule, or numerical claim on the site must be sourced from one of:

  1. Primary .gov sources — state Secretary of State websites, IRS, FinCEN, SBA, state Departments of Revenue, federal agencies.
  2. Industry bodies — American Bar Association, NAIC, NCCI, state bar associations, AICPA.
  3. Federal statutes and regulations — directly cited via official US Code or state code citations.

We do NOT cite as primary sources:

  • Other LLC-cost aggregator websites
  • Formation service marketing pages (LegalZoom, ZenBusiness, etc.)
  • Wikipedia articles (we use Wikipedia for navigation but don’t cite it as our source)
  • AI-generated content from any model

When a secondary source is the only available option (rare), we flag it in the citation.

Verification cadence

  • Quarterly cycle (January, April, July, October) — all 51 jurisdiction state SOS websites re-verified.
  • Off-cycle updates — triggered by state fee changes, federal rule changes (FinCEN BOI is most active), or court rulings affecting compliance requirements.
  • Annual full audit (January) — complete review of all citations, broken-link check, source-URL freshness.

Each fact has a lastVerifiedDate field showing when it was last confirmed against the source. Facts older than 90 days render with a freshness warning.

Author and reviewer credentials

  • Author — Aissam Baidi, founder and researcher (US business formation). LinkedIn. Sole author of all content as of 2026-04-25 launch.
  • Editorial fact-checker — Soft Crown Editorial Team. Every numerical claim is cross-referenced against the cited primary government source before publication and on each quarterly verification cycle. The fact-check log records source URL, retrieval date, the value retrieved, and the value published.
  • Reviewer (forthcoming) — A credentialed CPA or licensed attorney is being recruited and, when retained, will be added by name, credential, and state-board license number to the trust strip on every YMYL page. Until a reviewer is named, the trust strip explicitly says “Fact-checked against primary government sources” rather than imply credentialed review.

The site does not publish content under bylines other than Aissam Baidi as of 2026-04-25.

Pre-publication review process

Every page goes through:

  1. Draft — author writes the page from primary sources.
  2. Source check — every link and citation verified for currency and accessibility.
  3. AI-tells purge — automated check for blocked filler phrases that signal generic AI-generated text. Our scanner config blocks the 7 most common offenders (concluding boilerplate, “delv-” verb forms, geography metaphors for non-geographic topics, throat-clearing transitions). Full list at tools/seo-checks/ai-tell-blocklist.json.
  4. Diff-check (programmatic pages) — pairwise similarity check; any 2 state pages must differ on >10% of their content beyond template structure.
  5. Reviewer pass (post-launch, once reviewer hired) — credentialed CPA or attorney reviews legal/tax accuracy.
  6. Disclaimer check — every YMYL page has the exact disclaimer at the bottom.
  7. Publish.

AI use disclosure

Some pages may include text drafted with AI assistance (large language models like Claude or Gemini), but every fact is then verified against primary sources and rewritten as needed. We do NOT publish raw AI output. Every figure cited must have a source URL traceable to a primary .gov document.

The AI advisor feature (forthcoming) is a separate product. Its outputs are explicitly labeled “AI-assisted” and are subject to monthly editorial review by the credentialed reviewer before being indexed for search.

Conflict of interest

  • No formation service affiliate relationships as of 2026-04-25 launch.
  • No paid placement in rankings or recommendations.
  • No undisclosed sponsorships.
  • Display advertising only (Ezoic + Google AdSense).
  • Future affiliate relationships (if any are added in v2) will be disclosed at the page level with the disclosure language: “This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you sign up. This does not affect our editorial recommendations — see our methodology for the data verification process.”

Corrections policy

If you find a stale or wrong figure, file a correction at /corrections or email [email protected].

Each correction:

  1. Acknowledged within 5 business days
  2. Verified against the cited source URL
  3. Corrected with a logged date on the page’s dateModified field
  4. Documented in the public correction log

We do not silently change figures. Every correction is logged with the date, the prior value, the new value, and the verification source.

Content categories and editorial standards

Pillar and hub pages

  • Minimum 1,500-5,500 words depending on type
  • Minimum 3-5 external citations to authority sources
  • Minimum 8-15 FAQ entries
  • Author bio + reviewer attribution
  • Required disclaimer

State programmatic pages

  • Minimum 400 words; target 1,100 words
  • All numerical claims sourced to the state SOS or Department of Revenue
  • Minimum 3 page-unique FAQs (different from other states)
  • State-specific quirks (publication, franchise tax, charging order, etc.) documented
  • Each state’s lastVerifiedDate displayed

Editorial spokes

  • Minimum 1,200 words; target 1,500-2,000 words
  • Original analysis, not regurgitated aggregator content
  • 1+ unique data point with sourceCitation
  • Minimum 3 page-unique FAQs
  • 2+ external citations to authority sources

EEAT pages (about, contact, privacy, terms, methodology, corrections, editorial-policy)

  • Required for site E-E-A-T compliance
  • Author/reviewer transparency
  • Sourcing process documentation
  • User rights (CCPA, GDPR) explicitly described

YMYL (“Your Money or Your Life”) standards

LLC formation cost is a YMYL topic — financial decisions made on the basis of our content can materially affect users’ finances. We meet YMYL standards by:

  • Prominent author byline with real LinkedIn profile
  • Reviewer attribution (pending hire pre-launch)
  • Citation of every numerical claim to primary government sources
  • Quarterly verification with on-page lastVerifiedDate displays
  • Disclaimer on every page: “Not legal advice. Estimates based on publicly available data from each state’s Secretary of State office. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction.”
  • Public correction tracker with documented response SLA
  • Open dataset under CC BY 4.0 for independent audit

Inclusion policies

We accept content suggestions from any individual or organization, subject to source verification. We do not prioritize content based on the suggester’s affiliation.

State governments correcting their own data: highest priority — same-day update typically.

Industry analysts, journalists, academics: accepted with full citation review.

Formation services suggesting their data is correct vs ours: we verify against the state SOS, not the formation service. If the SOS confirms our data, the formation service’s “correction” is rejected.

Removed content

We do not delete content silently. If a page is removed:

  • The URL is replaced with a notice explaining why
  • A 301 redirect points to the most relevant remaining page
  • The reason for removal is documented in the public correction log

Contact

Not legal advice. Estimates based on publicly available data from each state’s Secretary of State office. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction.