Forming an LLC services can be confusing and overwhelming, considering the number of LLC formation services available out there. For beginners, this surplus of choices can be a dilemma.
After all, they might avail an LLC formation service that does not meet their expectations. To help business owners out there, our experts assess Incfile, one of the leading LLC formation service companies in the industry in this review.
Pros
- Incfile has a unique feature that allows owners to track their filing status online.
- Service Incfile offers a completely free company name availability analysis.
- If they opt for their Silver plan, you'll only have to pay the state filling fee for your LLC formation service.
- You will get a lifetime phone and email support from their great customer care team along with their lifetime company alerts.
- A 30 minute to 1-hour business tax consultation with a business expert at no extra cost
- One year worth of free registered agent service
- Next business day of processing
Cons
- You'll need to get through several package upgrades to get the registration benefits
- Their free plan still charges you for an Employers Identification Number (EIN)
Experience and Track Record
An important aspect that can help you gauge a company’s excellence is its experience. A company that has existed for long has likely seen several challenges in business and peculiar cases that required critical thinking to form an LLC.
Going through all this rigor would’ve helped strengthen the company’s skill base. This is why you must always look at a company’s track record and experience, especially when you decide to form an LLC with them.
Incfile has been in existence since 2004. In its 15+ years, it has served over 250,000 businesses across the US. Since its conception, it became one of the top-performing registered agent in Delaware.
Many of these businesses in LLC formation or is already forming an LLC are happy with the services they received from Incfile. It’s evident in the staggering amount of positive Incfile reviews has online. Even the few owners who had complaints were well-responded to.
Incfile Features
Incfile Packages and Prices
Like Bizfilings formation service Incfile LLC uses a tiered pricing structure to help you form an LLC. This allows you to save money and they can decide the add-ons they want without paying for everything you need at once in a package. However, it could also mean you’ll be spending extra cash on various services. These extra offers could just come in one package. The formation packages include the following:
Tier 1: Silver Package
This package is free, except for the state filing fee / state fees. However, this is a pretty standard expense in the LLC formation industry. This Package includes everything you might need to form an LLC. With this package, you can decide to make Incfile LLC your top registered agent choice. Doing so will entitle owners will get a free year of registered agent service.
If you choose this package, you’ll be able to save a lot of money. However, there are a few add-ons ( Employer Identification Number (EIN) along with its standard fee * and the Operating Agreement*) you can purchase. In total, they all cost about $500. But you have the option of what to add or not. You’ll also get lifetime phone and email support from their customer care team along with their lifetime company alerts.
Two add-ons that you’ll find particularly useful are the Employer Identification Number (EIN) along with its standard fee * and the Operating Agreement*. The former is assigned to you by the IRS and it is useful for your tax account. The latter will determine how your company will operate. Apart from these, you can get expedited filing, which speeds up your formation process at the state level as well as express shipping*.
Lastly, the Gold Kit contains everything from transfer ledgers to formation documents and a personalized business name on the kit. Other add-ons ( Employer Identification Number (EIN) along with its standard fee * and the Operating Agreement*) include filling out of IRS form 2553*, banking resolution*, and business contract templates. Every add-on with an asterisk(*) is free in the Gold and Platinum package.
Tier 2: Gold Package
This gold package costs $149 plus state filing fees / state fees and has everything you will need to form an LLC (Limited Liability Company). It has everything in the Silver Package and the asterisked add-ons. This includes the banking resolution and operating agreement.
In addition to all that, it also offers a free business website, next business day of processing and a lifetime of company alerts.
Our experts observed that when you choose the Gold package, you’ll be saving about $400. The $400 is the money you’d have to spend on all add-ons ( Employer Identification Number (EIN) along with its standard fee * and the Operating Agreement*) if you go for the Silver package. Also, you’ll have to renew your domain subscription for the business website each year. So, it is a good idea to weigh your options carefully before availing any LLC formation service package.
Tier 3: Platinum Package
The platinum package costs $299 plus your filing state fees. It has everything in the other formation packages like the operating agreement but with a few beneficial additions. Among other things, business owners get expedited state filing, email service and a free domain name, and business website, business contract templates and the package kit. The domain name and email services are free for one year. Also a lifetime of company alerts. Our experts observe that going for this package will save you about $900. As you can imagine, the $900 saved can be the amount of money you’d have spent on the add-ons separately.
Incfile Registered Agent Services
Every Limited Liability Company (LLC) in the US needs to have a registered agent or registered tax professional. The registered agent will receive your mail like a third-party entity. This is an essential task because your government will want to contact your business.
Besides that, business owners might need to handle court litigations frequently. These could be from the government or any other third-party organization. In that case, you don’t want your personal e-mail to be filled with junk. You could also mistake an important mail for junk, which can hinder your business schedule. Your registered agent service providers saves you from those issues.
Alongside their business formation services and lifetime company alerts, you’ll get this Incfile LLC formation service for free in your first year. Afterward, you can renew it for a little under $120 every year until you decide to make a change.
Business Name Availability Search
LLC formation service within the US is an entity that you cannot afford to run haphazardly. You need to be sure that you registered with the appropriate authority in the appropriate fashion.
Apart from that, to form an LLC you must be unique in your company name. This means you cannot have the same name as another business. You also cannot have a name similar to another. So, you’ll need to do a thorough entity name search before going into business. If you use Incfile, they’ll help you with this service at no extra cost to your bank account.
Another LLC formation services company offering name of the business search is CorpNet, here is our full review of CorpNet LLC formation service provider. Read next!
EIN/Tax Identification Number
Your tax ID or Employer Identification Number (EIN) is an important part of your business. It is a unique nine-digit number that the IRS assigns to your business. It is useful for filing your taxes as a business, among others.
You can apply for one and get it yourself. But, this can be a pretty tedious process with a lot of paperwork and office re-visits. It’s even more difficult when you have other things to attend to as a business owner. If you use Incfile, they’ll help you file for an Employer Identification Number (EIN). This will happen with a turnaround time of only a few next business day which is very similar to the Incfile LLC formation service.
If you choose their Silver package, you’ll have to pay $70 to get it. However, if you choose their gold package, you can get it for free.
Turnaround Time
Incfile is one of the programs that offers some of the best turnaround times in the LLC formation industry. Like ZenBusiness company, Incfile guarantees that your corporation or LLC formation service will take no more than one business day. This includes next day processing and forwarding to your state of formation. Our experts highlights the convenience of this peculiar feature. The reason is many Incfile competitors will have you wait several weeks for this. Those who are a bit more generous will charge an extra fee for next day processing.
However, once processed and forwarded, Incfile has done its part and the rest is left to your state. Your state could process the business formation service paperwork at least 10 business days. However, it could take several weeks to complete.
To help with this, Incfile is one a few that allows you to order and expedite state processing. This means that for an additional fee, you could get your work done faster.
Ease of Use
The point of using an LLC formation service company such as Rocket Lawyer is to avoid tackling difficult matters and make the ease of use better. This includes filing every form yourself. If your LLC formation service company is considerably tedious to use, it betrays the purpose.
Luckily, in our Incfile review, this service provider proves to offer fast and simple ways to attend to LLC formation service requirements. While filling out your form, everything is personalized based on your state. They give ease of use and useful information in the form filling part of the formation service process.
You might meet a few promotional offers along the way. This includes creating a bank account as you begin starting a business formation. But these don’t really qualify as distracting upsells. Finally, you can buy additional services in the process. This is possible with the affordable Incfile pricing. When you do, Incfile offer updates the price on your screen immediately.
Guarantee
Incfile doesn’t offer the regular 30-day money-back guarantee that you might be used to. However, the company does guarantee you speed. Incfile guarantees that your request will be processed and forwarded to your state. This will happen within one business day of receiving said request.
Additional Services
Similar to Northwest Registered Agent with additional services, Incfile has several other services to offer. Seven major services include:
- Amendments: Incfile will help you change the name of your business and edit your members. It will also change your outlined business formation service activities and address. It could really come in handy when you’re making changes to your business. Here, you might just not want to go through the stress of changing everything yourself.
- Foreign qualification: This process is necessary if you’ll be offering your service in other states. It doesn’t include expansion out of the country. Regardless, Incfile formation service can help you get registered in another state. Keep in mind, that each state in the US have laws that are unique to them. Some might require higher state fee / state fees than you’re used to. Others might charge higher or lower taxes. Even as Incfile helps you with this service, you should do your research too.
- Dissolution: Business dissolution can come for different reasons. You might be facing financial issues. You could as well be planning to move on to larger projects. Regardless, as a part of its incorporation service, Incfile will help you get through the dissolution process smoothly. That way, you can avoid getting taxed when your company isn’t even in business anymore.chan
- DBA: Not every state allows this. It’s important that you do your research before you go ahead and pay Incfile to help you get this done. However, if your state supports it, Incfile can help you file for operation under a name different from yours. For ease of reference, it is also known as fictitious business name.
- Annual reporting: Paying for this service means Incfile will file your reports. Additionally, they’ll send you compliance reminders before your reports are due. This helps you stay on top of the situation and ensures you don’t run into any non-compliance trouble.
- Trademark registration: Incfile will help you to protect your important trademarks. These include your logo, name, and tagline. As soon as that’s done, you can be assured that no one would be able to steal your trademarks. If they do, you would be well within your rights to sue them.
- Certificate of good standing: This is issued by your secretary of state. It shows your business is in good standing. It can come in handy when you’re applying for loans or proving your company’s existence.
- Business license research package: Incfile can send you all the business licenses that you might need. They’ll also give you all the forms you need to submit. However, you must keep in mind that they will not file for these licenses for you. An example is a license required to operate a pharmacy.
- Personal and business tax return filing: Incfile will help you file your taxes, taking a significant amount of burden off your hands. If you choose to let them do your personal and business returns, you should be able to save up to 15%
- Change of registered agent: You might need to change your registered agent at any given point. When the need comes up, you simply have to inform your state. Afterward, Incfile will help you do all the communication and paperwork to change your registered agent.
- S-corporation tax elections: This is also known as the form 2553 for the IRS. It can help cut down the taxes you owe as an LLC by lowering your taxable income [1], which Incfile can file for you.
Incfile Customer Support
Business for an LLC formation service or even a corporation can be a daunting task. You’ll need someone to walk you through the process as they will be providing detailed information at every turn. Incfile’s customer service easily accomplishes this task for you.
Incfile has a solid customer service team that’s open every weekday from 9 am-6 pm. They’re available via phone and email. Our experts note that they take only the bare minimum amount of time to respond to your call when you place one. Like Incorporate.com with excellent customer support, their representatives are eager and willing to help you.
For emails, they respond swiftly too. They do so with detailed and in-depth answers to your questions. One of the advantages about the Incfile customer support package is that it’s available for life. It doesn’t matter if you placed your business formation order two business days ago or two decades ago. They’re always there to answer your questions.
Customer Reviews
Incfile has existed for more than fifteen years. In that time, the company has served more than 250,000 businesses. This has left Incfile with a trail of impressive online customer feedback. Two of the most prominent Incfile review sites are (BBB) and Shopper Approved.
On Better Business Bureau, Incfile has more than 130 customer feedback. On average, these customers give Incfile a 4-star rating. Better Business Bureau considered Incfile fast, easy, and affordable. Also Better Business Bureau and other people also thought Incfile has excellent incorporation services and phone support. Some went as far as calling it the best for a business formation.
On Shopper Approved, the sheer number of reviews is staggering. There, it has gathered more than 14,000 customer reviews about its LLC and incorporation services with an overall rating of about 4.8 stars. What makes this impressive is that Shopper Approved monitors the customers and reviews. This means that all 14,000+ satisfied customers actually reviewed their services.
Incfile Alternatives
It’s entirely understandable if you’re not fully convinced of Incfile’s services as a business owner in the process of your business formation. Even if you are, it’s still not such a also a good idea to have other options. In that regard, a company that can compare to Incfile is LegalZoom.
LegalZoom offers all the important things that you might need to form an LLC or set up your LLC or corporation. LegalZoom also has excellent customer support. They’re available long enough to answer your questions with phone support. They can do this even as you fill out their form during the formation process.
However, it’s worthy of note that LegalZoom isn’t quite as cost-effective as Incfile. For example, Incfile offers to be a free registered agent service provider – for one year. Afterward, you can renew at a convenient Incfile pricing of $119 per year. However, LegalZoom charges you $159 extra for a full year right off the bat. This is apart from the money you’ll spend on formation documents and your application form with LegalZoom.
(For legal form creation and handling, you can also seek the assistance of US Legal Forms that we reviewed)
FAQ
Is Incfile good for LLC?
The services Incfile provide is one of good services for LLC for different reasons. The first is that the company is incredibly cost-effective. This is evident in their free for one year starter plan and their first free year of registered agent service. Besides, one of the benefits of Incfile includes fast turnaround times with excellent customer support.
Is Incfile free?
Incfile is free, that’s why incfile one of the best But not completely. If you go for their 2nd package, you don’t have to pay anything besides filling the state fees. Anything else is an optional add-on. Apart from this, incfiile is one of the companies that will offer you a free full year of registered agent services. Only after exhausting your first year will you have to renew.
What is Incfile fee for LLC?
The Incfile fee for LLC formation depends on what tier you’re subscribing to. The Silver tier costs $0 without the state fees / state fee and add-ons. The Gold package, however, costs $149 plus state fees / state fee. The higher tier, on the other hand, costs $299 plus state filing. Any extra costs from add-ons are entirely up to you.
Who owns Incfile?
Incfile is owned by Nicholas Siha and his co-founder. They established the company in 2004 in Houston, Texas. Since then, they’ve helped thousands of businesses.
Incfile Review Conclusion
Incfile is one of the best LLC services and corporation service companies with 15 years of experience. It has several formation packages with great features such as fast turnaround time. Even if you have any difficulties, their reliable customer support team can support and take care of your concerns throughout the filing process. You can also get business tax information from their free tax consultation (A 30 minute to one hour consultation)
Our experts believe the company has what it takes to become your LLC services company. However, make sure that you consider your options when filling the form. That way, you’ll optimize your spending on any service Incfile includes in their offers.
Between Incfile and LegalZoom, which LLC services do you prefer? You can also read our review of Incfile and LegalZoom to know which incorporation services is ideal for you.
