USA compliance guide for new LLC owners

Research summary and key findings for: "USA compliance guide for new LLC owners" Steps taken: 1) Performed broad web searches for up-to-date federal and state guidance on LLC compliance, formation, taxes, employer obligations, licensing, and FinCEN BOI requirements. (Searches targeted IRS, FinCEN, SBA, DOL, prominent formation-service guidance and state SOS/annual-report topics.) 2) Scraped and compressed authoritative federal pages (FinCEN BOI FAQs, IRS guidance on single-member LLCs and EIN application), plus substantive guidance from reputable formation/service providers and small-business resources to capture common state-level and practical compliance items. 3) Extracted and verified key deadlines, filing triggers, and reporting elements (EIN, BOI initial-report timelines, tax classification rules, employment tax/reporting needs, and licensing/registration considerations) and collected source excerpts and links to support content creation. High-level findings (sufficient to draft comprehensive blog/newsletter content): - Federal: EIN requirements (when an LLC needs an EIN), IRS tax classification (disregarded entity, partnership, or corporation), employment tax reporting rules for disregarded entities, S-corp election (Form 2553) and corporate election (Form 8832) options and deadlines, and federal employer obligations (I-9, employment taxes, Form 941/940). - FinCEN BOI: Reporting companies (including most LLCs created/registered with a secretary of state) must file Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reports via FinCEN’s e-filing site. Initial-report deadlines depend on company creation/registration date (companies existing before Jan 1, 2024 had earlier deadlines; guidance updated—companies created/registered on/after Mar 26, 2025 may have a 30-day deadline). BOI reports collect company info, beneficial owner identities (name, DOB, residential address, ID number and image), and for many companies require a TIN/EIN information. FinCEN’s Small Entity Compliance Guide and FAQs are primary authorities. - State-level: Every state requires formation filing with its Secretary of State (or equivalent), a registered agent, and most require periodic filings (annual or biennial reports) and fees; many states impose franchise or entity-level taxes (CA, NY, TX, etc.). Local (city/county) licenses and permits are commonly required depending on industry and location. Some states have publication requirements (NY, AZ, NE). Foreign qualification is required to transact in other states. - Practical controls: Create an Operating Agreement, obtain EIN, open business bank account, register for state tax accounts (sales tax, withholding, unemployment), verify local licenses/permits, set calendar reminders for annual/biennial reports and BOI updates, maintain separate business records and capitalization documentation to protect limited liability (avoid veil-piercing), and run periodic compliance audits. Recommended next steps to produce the blog and newsletter content: - Draft a long-form blog post including: an executive summary, month-by-month first-year checklist, federal filing & tax guidance (with S-corp/C-corp election steps and deadlines), BOI reporting step-by-step (what to collect, how to file, deadlines), employer obligations summary, state compliance checklist (formation, registered agent, annual reports, franchise taxes, publication), local licensing guidance, penalties & common pitfalls, sample compliance calendar/checklist, and links to all primary sources. - Append a state-specific quick-reference table for the major states requested (CA, NY, TX, FL, WA, NJ, IL, PA, GA, OH) with formation fee, initial/annual report frequency & deadlines, franchise tax presence/comments, and any unusual rules (e.g., CA LLC annual fee, NY publication, TX franchise tax). I recommend pulling each state SOS and state tax authority page for the final state-specific table. I have collected authoritative excerpts and links below that will support each section of the blog. You may now instruct me to: (A) generate the complete blog post and newsletter copy (including meta tags, excerpt, slug and checklist) using the gathered sources and best practices; or (B) first retrieve each state-specific SOS/tax page for the ten requested states to produce an exact state comparison table before drafting the blog. Please indicate preference.